


Act 1- Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!

by Wolfe_Pirate



Series: Ghost Town Hues [1]
Category: Original Work, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Enemies to Friends, Ghost Town, Minor Violence, Original Character(s), Original Stand Users (JoJo) - Freeform, POV Alternating, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, Song references, fanpart, jjba fanpart, only has to do with jjba is because stands are a thing, put it at graphic depictions of violence because its gonna get pretty crazy, will add tags as it goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26254996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfe_Pirate/pseuds/Wolfe_Pirate
Summary: 2009, BrazilJoella Joestar is on a trip to a relatives house when something strange happens.Encounters with even more strange people lead her deeper into the hole she's entered.With the intents on finding out the true mystery of why the town of Myrtlough is abandoned...Joella has one big trip ahead of her.
Series: Ghost Town Hues [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907404
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Last Stop, Caxias do Sul

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my fanpart of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, my friend and I have been planning this for months and I'm finally getting around to posting it on here. You might notice that the title has Act 1in the beginning. The reason for that is because I plan to divide the entire story into four different acts. Also for every chaper I always recommend a song, for this chapter I'm doing two.  
> Song(s) of the day are Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In! by Will Wood and Moon Rocks by Talk Heads
> 
> That's all for now, see you later!

The sun shone down on the landscape, it was mid-afternoon and the first train running after lunch was over halfway through its travel. Though it was only January it felt extremely hot, even with the trains air conditioning the heat still seeped into the compartments.

A particularly interesting looking 17 year old sat in a nearly empty compartment, resting her arm close to the window she was seated by. She was cautious of going near it, having learned her lesson an hour and a half before, when she had sat down and leaned against the glass. 

She stared at the bland landscape that passed by, her eyes tracing the horizon as they moved along. The girl quickly glanced around the compartment she was seated in at the rest of the occupants, though there weren't many.

She sighed and returned her gaze to the outside landscape. A bag near her feet was filled with miscellaneous items, journals, pens, books, a few empty packages, an mp3 player, and other items of sorts were placed in there neatly. A patch inside was delicately stitched to the front, barely legible print reading, 

_ If found, please return to Joella Joestar  _

Joella Joestar, was her name, though most of her social circle referred to her as JoJo, a simple nickname that was easy to get off the tongue. She hadn't a clue why her parents gave her a first name that shared a prefix with her last, alliteration must've been the simple answer.

Her reason for being on the train was to spend some time at a distant relatives estate halfway across Brazil, it wasn't the ideal plan for the beginning of her year, but it was better than having to stay back in her town where there were plenty of people who made her want to scream.

She forgot the name of the town the relative lived in, it had been brought up in conversation no more than twice and it frankly slipped her mind. She supposed she would find out the name in a short while once the train stopped and she moved to the next one.

She had been on and off trains for two days, taking a night and an afternoon off for some well deserved relaxation after having to sit on the not so comfortable seats of multiple different trains over the day. She was two thirds the way to her destination, her starting point being Juazeiro do Norte, the journey so far taking around 34 hours.

She slouched down in her seat, there was nothing to do. Sure she could write something, or mindlessly doodle, but she had been doing that for the past few days. She'd also listen to music she had already downloaded onto her mp3 but it had unfortunately died in the early stages of the day.

Joella glanced at the clock placed above the exit, time had passed fairly quickly, there was only a short amount of time left on this train, then it would be time for the homeward stretch, finally. She groaned and sat up straight, securing everything in her bag and propping it up in her seat next to her. 

Five minutes later the train screeched to a halt, Joella stood up and grabbed her bag before stepping off the train onto the platform, she walked over to the nearest ticket booth to obtain her next tickets for her next ride.

"Tickets for Caxias do Sul? Give me a quick second to pull up the screen, name?" The lady behind the glass maneuvered her mouse and clicked it a few times, getting the correct screens open to confirm that the tickets were going to the correct owner.

"Joella Joestar." She replied, looking at the counter her tickets would soon take up, "Need any other info?" 

The lady shook her head, "No, that's it... And it looks like you do have tickets under your name... Give me a second to put in everything and... There." She printed out a ticket and slid it through the glass to Joella, "Have a great day!" 

"You too ma'am." She replied with a nod, taking the ticket and assuring its safety. She spun on her heel and walked to a bench to wait the fifteen minutes for her new train to arrive.

As she walked to the bench, a male seated nearby, no more than 19 seemingly disappeared into thin air. She stared at the spot, did her mind just make the guy’s existence? No, that seemed too odd, whatever. 

Joella shook her head and sat down, she glanced quickly back at the spot where the mystery man had been. He was back, "Wh-" She cut herself off quickly, covering her mouth, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

The man looked over towards her, a smirk pulling at his lips. But as soon as she blinked, the man was focused on the magazine he held. Joella narrowed her eyes, something about him seemed odd, but she couldn't fathom what made him seem that way.

A voice brought her out of her thoughts, someone on the intercom,"Last train leaving for Caxias do Sul! Everyone board! Last call for Caxias do Sul!" The intercom crackled as the words were said but it was clear enough.

As she stood up, the mystery man was nowhere in sight, she frowned and walked towards the line waiting to board, she was about to take a spot in the line when the man suddenly appeared from behind a column and took a spot in a different line. She slightly gaped at the man suddenly appearing once again, she swiftly went to refocus her eyes on the person in front of her, it was almost time for her to board.

She stepped onto the train and walked down the aisle before opening the door to the next compartment. She picked a seat and set her bag down, sliding it under the bench. With a sigh, she slumped down into her seat, attempting to think of something to entertain her for the rest of her last train trip for a while.

She reached into her bag and took out a journal, she had some notes written down from the previous day and she needed to add on to them, she was sure someone would enjoy hearing about her trip went, even if she didn't.

Joella spent some time writing down all the events of the day, nothing much had happened besides the whole disappearing act that one guy did, but she didn't bother to write about that, no one would be interested in it anyways.

After a few more minutes she returned the notebook back to the bag and dug around in it for something else to occupy her, she pulled out her mp3 hoping that it still had some percentage left, just so she could get just a fraction of music to listen to, even if it was just for a minute.

She held down the power button, staring at the screen in anticipation, rather than a white screen of confirmation, she got a red, blinking battery. Joella grumbled and leaned towards her bag to put the mp3 away. 

Before she could secure it and assure her safety, a sudden shouting from multiple people in the compartments in front of her. She startled and dropped the mp3. Quickly, she stood up and opened the door to reach the next compartment. 

As soon as she reached the room she already realised that something bad was happening, she walked up to the nearest person, "What's going on?" She asked, crossing her arms and staring at the man she had asked.

The man turned towards her with wide eyes, he quickly began to explain, words hard to make out, "That boy! He jumped out the window! He had said some weird phrase before jumping! The conductor can't stop the train, we don't know if he's okay!" 

"What? Someone jumped through a window of a speeding train? Who was it..." She muttered, rushing over to the broken window, the train had slowed, so they weren't too far ahead of the man that had jumped. 

To her surprise, she saw the mystery disappearing man standing and staring at the train. It seemed he spotted Joella sticking her head out from the window, he did a signal, one she wasn't exactly sure what it meant. Her best guess was that it meant come here for some reason.

She sighed, ran to grab her backpack and returned to the compartment. She got both straps over her shoulders, took a deep breath, and dived through the window as well. Screams accompanied her actions, but she was too focused on landing safely rather than listening to people that didn't know how to take a risk.

She stretched out an arm and braced for impact, her forearm scraped the ground, everything else following, friction slowing her down. After a second to assess that everything was still in one piece, she slowly got up from off the dirt. Joella winced as she realized that her arm got a pretty nasty cut, but she could fix that later, she had a mystery man to find.

Shielding her eyes with her hand, her eyes swept the area, looking for the guy, eventually she saw him no more than 20 meters away. Joella began to walk towards him, she had a mystery she needed to solve.

It seemed as she walked, he did too, eventually, the two stopped, they stared at each other for a few minutes before the mystery man held out his hand to her.

"I'm Bo En," He said, a half grin spread across his features. He had an interesting outfit choice considering the weather, long sleeves in the heat? What was going on in his head?

She glared at Bo En while warily shaking his hand, "Why are you introducing yourself, no one asked you to." She said, frowning as she inspected him.

"It's always polite to introduce yourself to your rival before you fight." He smirked, crossing his arms.

"Fight? Do you mean-" She began to talk but Bo En quickly cut her off.

"Yes, physically, now, if you don't mind, I've been waiting for you to introduce yourself." Bo En said, kicking up a small clump of grass.

Joella didn't like where this was headed, but she assumed that this would be the best time to use her ability... Yes... She'd only used it a few times before, and she wasn't even completely sure it was meant for fights.

"My name is Joella Joestar, though I don't find it much of a pleasure meeting you." She said, reluctantly exchanging her name.

"Fantastic!" He cheered, clapping his hands together, "Now we can begin, if you wouldn't mind taking about five steps back for me then we'll be all set." 

She sighed and walked backwards, she didn't turn, she just stared down Bo En the whole time, making sure he didn't do anything.

"You have a mean stare there, I'm just wondering what I did to you?" He put on an obvious fake frown and looked at Joella with sad eyes.

She groaned, "Can we get on with this already? I already jumped off the train, now I'll have to find another station to get more tickets to get to Caxias do Sul." 

"My apologies for holding us up, you wish to begin now?" He asked, a sly grin sneaking onto his face, "Well... Lets begin." Right as he finished a faint glow surrounded him before he disappeared.

Joella immediately began looking around for him, could he teleport? Was that what happened at the station earlier? No, couldn't be, or could it? "Ugh, where did he go?" She yelled.

"Well I happen to be right here? Did you miss me?" Bo En's voice came from behind her, she quickly spin on her heel, "Haha! You're wondering how I disappeared aren't you? Well, I guess I'll share, it's only fair... Considering you were the only one who could see me vanish into thin air!" He declared.

"What? What do you mean I was the only one? Are you talking about when you just vanished into thin air while you were on the bench?" She asked, taking a step away from him.

"Well, you see, I have an ability called a stand, only certain people can see them, those certain people also happen to have them. Which means normal civilians could see me the whole time! You just happened to be in my range so I disappeared from your sight! That's what my stand can do!" He exclaimed, a big grin on his face.

She was taken aback by his enthusiasm, it left her frazzled on the entire matter, "I don't... I don't think I don't follow." Joella said, taking yet another step back.

"My stand is called Pale Machine, It allows me to appear invisible to people within my range." He explained further, "Now... We have a fight to get back to..." And Bo En disappeared once again. 

Joella shut her eyes and focused, she needed to call out her stand, she had to remember what she had named it, "Come on come on come on..." She murmured, recalling all her memories.

Suddenly, it hit her, "Speaking in Tongues!" A humanoid figure appeared behind her, it already being on guard, "Can you find Bo En?" She looked around, he hadn't showed up again, was he waiting to attack her once her back was turned?

Speaking in Tongues stayed still, slowly taking in the area around it. Before anything could happen pain shot through her stomach and she recoiled, she'd been punched, but my who? She hadn't felt the impact, only the result. 

A glance towards her stand told her everything she needed, something stood by her stand, its arm stretched out, it had already hit Speaking in Tounges.

"That must be Pale Machine! Bo En's stand!" She cried out, "But how will I find him when I can't see him? What If I just followed his stand!" She looked at it before it too disappeared like it's user.

"How will I figure this out now?”


	2. Pale Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo En's request of a duel is confusing, but there's no point in turning it down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back!! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, I already had this one written, and I'm very close to finishing the third chapter, but just to let you guys know, it takes 2-3 weeks to write them. I'm really sorry about that, but school's started for me and takes up quite a bit of time. I hope I'll be able to get them out quicker so the wait isn't as long, but that's what's going on now.  
> Anyways, the song of the chapter is My Time by Bo En, and I recommend you listen while you read!  
> That's it for now, see you next update!!

Joella turned at every angle, trying to see if Bo En had reappeared yet, if she could spot him before he turned invisible again she could probably do something that might assure him not disappearing again. She sighed in frustration, what was the range of his stand? He said something about her being in his range. 

She took a few steps back and surveyed the area, he hadn't appeared yet, another few steps and she began looking around again. As she went further and further from her starting point, she began devising her plan to disable his ability. 

Finally she saw him, it was only a faint outline but she knew it was him. Joella stepped back one last time, "I found you now Bo En." She muttered. Bo En looked up quickly, away from the thing that had attacked Speaking in Tongues moments earlier, as he focused on her his stand faded out.

"So you found out my range huh? Surprising for a newbie like you." He laughed, "But I can just walk towards you and re summon my stand and you won't see me once again." She smiled at his words, she had a plan to make his stand ineffective.

Joella braced herself before calling her stand, "Speaking in Tongues!" It came into her view, "Take his voice!" She yelled, the stand obeyed and held out its hand, targeting Bo En, a green glow emitting from it's palm. He looked confused, almost as if he was wondering what was going on. Her only response was a grin.

Bo En stepped forward and opened his mouth, going to call for Pale Machine, but when he tried to get the words out nothing came. He shot a look over to Joella and grimaced, she had the upper hand for the time being.

She had no idea how long her stands effect would last, but she hoped it'd be long enough for her to defeat her challenger. She glanced at her stand before looking back at Bo En and crossed her arms, "Surprised you can't summon you stand? The look on your face really suits you." She laughed.

He frowned and took a step back, she had a limited amount of time to do this before he could summon his stand again. Joella took a stride forward, decreasing the space between them. Bo En had a look on his face that could be taken two different ways, either he was nervous, or he was completely calm. His grin could be misleading, but sooner or later she'd crack the code for sure.

She was ready, now all she had to do was punch him back as payback for the punch earlier. She turned her head, making sure Speaking in Tongues was still active and next to her. "Let's go." She said, closing the gap between her and Bo En.

As soon as she was within touching distance from him, he immediately began waving his arms in front of him, trying to get her to calm down. He brushed a few stray strands of hair that had momentarily covered his eye before he kneeled down and clasped one of her hands in between both of his, a last attempt to spare him the beat down he was due for.

Joella reeled back, retracting her arm from his grasp, she sneered, "You know what you're due for invisa-boy. Stand up and face me like a real man." Joella watched as Bo En slowly, but calmly. He held his arms above his head, awaiting his fate that was going to come with a handful of punches.

"You chose the wrong person to mess with Bo En." She spat, glaring at the male, "Now it's time to pay up." She reared her arm back, Speaking in Tongues copying her moves. "Go." She whispered, allowing her stand to begin unleashing its wrath.

The stand began throwing punches, "Ira ira ira ira ira ira ira!" It cried out, bashing its fists against Bo En's face. Admittedly, they weren't very strong, but they would leave marks, that was definite.

Joella smirked as she watched him get hit, it served him right for being the cause of the mild anxiety that she'd had since the train stop. She refocused back onto her stand, it was still yelling, but she hadn't noticed Bo En's stand had reappeared.

"Crap." She muttered, watching her battered opponent wave as he faded into nothingness, "Oh no, you can't be getting away at this point in time. You better come back so you can finish what you started." 

She sighed, who knows where he could be now, he could be on the other side of the tracks for all she knew. Joella was on the brink of giving up for good and walking back to the station, all hope that she had in winning had deflated, her loss making a dent in the confidence that had just surfaced near the beginning of her fight.

She had turned in the direction of the train station when she noticed a puddle of crimson that looked like a foot had been dragged through it. It stained the grass blades as well as crushed them. Hope flickered in her, like a newly lit candle, wick still fresh. She had another chance to beat Bo En and give him what he truly deserved.

With a skip in her step, Joella grabbed her bag, which she hadn't realized came off in the midst of their fight, and adjusted it on her shoulders. She looked at the grass and followed the trail that Bo En had foolishly left her. He'd certainly pay, that was a guarantee.

She began following the trail, keeping a close eye to the ground, but also making sure that she saw everything around her as well, as long as she could get in his range, she would be able to see him. And as long as she could see him, the longer she can get payback.

By the looks of it, she had injured Bo En pretty badly, he probably lost a lot of blood, she was thankful that it was there so she could have something to follow, but it also made her feel slightly worried. Joella really hoped she didn't actually kill him, he hadn't done anything that deserved the death penalty.

Gripping her bag tightly, she entered a wooded area, trees occupying the space where the sky had shown moments earlier. The blood trail was growing sparse, only a few droplets grouped together being her guide, sooner or later, the only thing that'd guide her would be the grass that Bo En had trampled in his attempt to evade her.

A sudden breeze blew beside her, it seemed too odd considering the heat of the day. Maybe it was just nerves, the creeping feeling of finding Bo En dead, or him flat out escaping causing her sudden chills. 

Another step forward, a branch underfoot cracked under pressure, she jumped at the sudden sound and whipped around, expecting someone to be on her trail rather than her being the cause of the most recent unease.

Eventually the trampled grass trail led her to a clearing, sum streamed in through the leaves, the trees covering the area sparse enough to allow the light. Right in the middle was a crimson puddle and what seemed like dragged out footsteps expanding from it.

"Theres no body... So he must be walking in the direction the blood is going." She mumbled, walking towards the pool of blood. "Could this be a set up? Once I begin following this trail he reveals himself at the end and attacks." She thought about a few scenarios that could most definitely happen considering her circumstances.

She ended up clearing the board, the most likely thing to happen would be him at the end, and if that were to happen, she'd be prepared and escape from the entrance in which she came.

Joella took a few steps towards the pathway, she hoped that the footprints would be there until she found him again, she didn't think she could psychoanalyze the grass again and look for signs of it being crushed, her eyes were still sore after staring at it for such a long time.

She was a third of the way from the entrance when she heard the branches of a nearby tree move, she whipped her head around, attempting to locate which tree it was. Now, of it were an average day, she'd ignore it and move along, but the thing was, there was no wind, absolutely none. It was obviously something moving within the branches. 

Maybe she was overreacting, it could've been a squirrel, or bird, Joella suppressed a sigh and faced back towards the way she had been going before getting caught off guard.

The second she began walking she knew she'd made a grave mistake. "Caught you Joella." She'd never turned around faster, Bo En was inches away from her, a sly grin on his face, he was still bleeding from multiple injuries. It was honestly a miracle he was still standing. "I thought I actually lost, thank goodness you followed my trail. I was getting worried." He laughed.

Speaking in Tongues immediately appeared next to Joella, ready to aid her once again. But Bo En was too far ahead, he faded from her view and next thing she knew he had her in a choke hold, there was no way out. He won, any moment now he could snap her neck, strangle her, slit her throat, or do anything that he pleased. Joella accepted her fate and shut her eyes. But Bo En wasn't finished speaking.

"I'm so very glad I got a chance to duel with you, you were a very formidable opponent Ms. Joestar, whatever your current ideals of me are I'd ask of you to erase them as I have no plans of actually harming you in any way." He laughed, "This fight was more of a warm up, I have no intentions of evil, this was merely a test that I decided suited you best."

She was speechless, he wasn't going to kill her..? No, this must be some fantasy she's having, a last dying daydream before she parts from the realm of living. She shut her eyes and kept them shut, when she opened them she'd be back in reality, when she did she realized she was now face to face with Bo En.

"Don't look at me like that," Bo En said, putting his hands up beside his head, "I'm not the kind of guy to go around killing people haha... That'd be a waste of an amazing human soul." He put his hands down, brushing off his sleeve that had dried blood on it.

"Amazing? Dude. We aren't on What Would You Do? John Quinoñes isn't going to come out from behind that tree and congratulate you on complementing a girl that literally beat the ever loving crap out of you." She deadpanned.

"John who?" He looked lost, "I've never heard of him before, he famous or something?" He asked, crossing his arms and waiting for a response from Joella.

She gave him a look, "You don't know..? Alright, I only know him because some family in the states constantly watched this when I went over. It's basically a show where something staged happens in public and people who don't have a clue that it isn't real decide if they step in or not. And once they do something the host comes out and explains that they're on his show." She explained, rolling her eyes, "Simple enough of a concept for you to understand?" 

He shrugged, "Guess so, maybe you should show it to me sometime." He laughed.

"Depends." She muttered, "Besides I barely know you, anyways, what made you decide to come up to me and challenge me anyways? Nothing life or death is happening." She asked.

Bo En's face lit up, "Oh yeah! So, I heard someone on a payphone near here speaking about this town, it's a ghost town essentially, Myrtlough I think? I haven't a clue what the context of what was said, but I have a bad feeling about it." He said.

"What did the person look like? Did they look shady, that could be a big factor in it." Joella responded, not sure how she felt about the situation.

"Well, he looked like he just got out of roller derby, skates, helmet, knee pads, everything. I found it a little odd, but I think he was talking to a girl. Something along the lines of wanting to check it out, something bad had happened there years ago. I also know for a fact that they live nearby this place. He'd asked about it and I guess repeated the directions."

"What!" She yelled, "You memorized the directions to someone's house without a second thought and decided that you were going to drag someone along and hunt them down and you don't see a problem with it?" 

He looked up at the trees as if he was actually entertaining the thought, "Nope, seemed like something important so if you'll follow me..." He came up from behind Joella and grabbed her shoulders, beginning to steer her in the opposite direction she had been going, "... We can get this show on the road." He grinned.

Joella sighed and succumbed to her fate, moving with Bo En as he lead her into the depths of the forest they were in. 

Not even five minutes later he began speaking again, "Do you think I could call you JoJo?" He asked, turning slightly, changing their path, "Seems easier that way, who knows how many Joella's there are haha."

She didn't laugh, "Sure, most people I talk to call me that anyways, it wouldn't cause any problems in the near future." Joella responded, "But I'll only allow you to if I can call you No-Fucking-Boundaries."

"Oooh, harsh, understandable though. Though I feel the need to add that you don't have to say Bo En all the time. Just Bo is fine, En is like a middle name in a way." He said with a smile.

"Alright... Got it Bo, thanks..." She muttered, staring at the ground in front of her.

"No problemo JoJo!" He cheered before regaining his composure, "We should be there in less than five minutes, turns out we were closer than I thought we were." He chuckled.

"No. Bo. Don't tell me. Did you follow this guy home? Multiple times even? What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled.

Bo stopped moving, he actually looked embarrassed, "Well... Funny story... Yeah, my encounter with this guy happened the other day... I've watched them and I know every possible way to their place.

"Yeah, your other nickname is starting to sound better." She frowned, glaring at Bo behind her.

"Hey, you'll forgive me when we get to the bottom of this, I guarantee, I'll even bet you something. You pick." He responded.

"No."

"Fine. Oh look! Here we are! This is where they live, a little too naturey for me." He said cheerfully, stepping in front of JoJo.

It was a small wood cabin that was covered in leaves, moss, and anything else, behind it there was a cave that's entrance gave off an odd vibe just by its look. Considering it was in the middle of a forest there were several lanterns laying around, and the door had a large window covering half the door. Near the door another window was there, dark green curtains shielding the inside from any outside viewers.

Joella noticed a shadow in front of the curtains and them moving slightly to the side, a hand quickly retracting and the green fabric swishing from side to side alarmed her.

"Bo. Someone inside saw us." She whispered, ducking behind a nearby bush.

"Don't be silly JoJo! I memorized their schedules too! The guy is supposed to be out back practicing with his skates."

She looked at him with utter disbelief, "You actually don't have any common fucking sense do you. That is actually terrifying. Remind me to never tell you any personal information ever." She muttered, dragging her hands across her face.

That didn't stop her from worrying, she heard the faint sound of a door shutting before a figure sped into the cave entrance. She grabbed Bo's arm and tugged him down next to her. "You said there's more than one person here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the girl I heard on the phone, pretty sure she spends most of her time in that cave. Why do you ask?"

"I'm asking because I just saw the guy go into that cave and now he and the girl are walking towards us." She grumbled through clenched teeth. Joella tried her best to stay quiet, even covering Bo's mouth because she knew he wouldn't shut himself up.

"Hey pussy cats! What do you think you're doing spying on me and my friend here. It ain't too kind to do something like that." The girl yelled, leaning over the shrubbery.

"I could get fined for this." The guy said quickly, before attempting to whisper into the girls ear, "Is that what I was supposed to say?" 

"No it's _you_ can get fined. But it's fine, we can just deal with them another way." The girl said, redirecting her attention back onto Joella and Bo.

"Hey now... I'm sure we can all talk this over in a civilized manner." Bo said with a nervous laugh, holding his hands up in front of him.

"I don't believe that'll do."


	3. Soft Cell and Wild Side part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four people, two fights, who will be the victor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, sorry it took so long, school sucks. Chapter song is Tainted Love by Soft Cell, I recommend you listen to it. See you next time, hopefully not as long.

“Joella stared at the two people in front of her before looking over at Bo. "Please tell me you two aren't stand users as well. 'Cause I'm pretty sure I can take skates over here in a fist fight easily." Bo said, looking at the guy in skates up and down.

The girl glared at him, "Don't you dare underestimate my friend. I will actually rip out your vocal cords with my teeth if it means you can't make any more snide remarks." She growled. 

"Hey hey, no need to give me that imagery, I'd really prefer not to imagine myself dying from bleeding out." Bo choked out a laugh, slowly looking between the girl and the trees behind him.

"Bo... We really should be heading off shouldn't we, sorry to bother you but my friend here lacks common sense." JoJo uttered, grabbing Bo's wrist and pulling him up.

The guy crossed his arms, "No." He said, taking a stride around the bush and standing closer to her and Bo En, "You invaded our personal property and watched us. I don't like that."

"Yeah, we're going to settle this and you can't get out of it." The girl ducked beneath the sudden punch Joella had thrown out, it wasn't intentional, but half of her hoped it would've connected with the target. The girl sent her a glare and grabbed her friend by the arm before leaning towards him and whispering something into his ear.

The boy processed what she had said before grinning and nodding quickly. "Hey, you!" He yelled in Joella's direction, snapping his fingers, "Come with me. We're gonna sort this out." He said, pulling her back around the bush and to an empty spot next to the house.

Bo watched as Joella was taken away, she was about to go after her when the sort of scary girl blocked his path, "Hey asshole, where do ya think you're going?" She asked, "Your fights with me." She swiftly moved behind him and pushed him to the opposite side of the cabin into an empty clearing.

"Hey... don't you think you should take me out on a date before bringing me to a secluded, unpopulated, patch in the woods...?" He asked, laughing nervously.

The girl glared at him, "Name." It definitely wasn't a question, she wasn't asking him.

Bo froze up, "I, uh, Bo... Bo En. Who's the charming maiden with the lovely smile?"

The girl's seemingly endless scowl actually deepened, at this point he was fully convinced this was the only expression she could make. "Hey hey... What's with the resting bitchface?"

She stayed quiet, continuing to walk even though she had left Bo moments before. She stopped when she was on the other side of the clearing, nearly pressed against the tree behind her.

"So doll, you gonna give me your name or not, I'd like to know who just seperated me from my friend. Also. It's only fair that you share with me after I told you." He said, crossing his arms and taking a few steps back to even the distance between them.

"Isa." She said in a low voice, "I don't care about you enough to share the full thing." Isa just stared at him, it was... Weird, something about her made him very uncomfortable. 

Bo had no clue where Joella was and he wanted to know, but for some reason deep down he knew if he made an attempt to leave this girl... Isa wouldn't like that and something awful would most definitely do something that'd end in him getting beaten up yet again.

He had to break the silence, it was getting too awkward, "Sooo Isa, why'd you bring me here? To talk it out? I apologise deeply for following you guys home on multiple occasions and keeping the directions to your house on my mind."

Rather than laughing, Isa took a stride towards him and held out her hands in a threatening motion, "You did what?" Uh oh. Okay, so, maybe not the best topic to bring up with a very irritable girl who can and would strangle him on the spot.

"No need for that... No need." He said, his back now pressing against the tree, well, that was for sure a problem. 

Her look would probably kill him if it was possible, he was glad that it wasn't. "So you're saying that you followed me and my brother home several times? I say that deserves an ass kicking." She said, taking more drastic steps towards him.

"Uh, no harm was intended, no mal intent I swear!" He said, his voice was probably going up a pitch or two. She scared the shit out of him. Wait... She mentioned something about beating him up right? Maybe... Maybe just maybe he could try and use Pale Machine against her, sure it'd be a waste of time if she wasn't actually a stand user, but it would be worth it if she was and he could just evade her.

Summoning his stand out of Isa's sight line, Bo slowly disappeared from her sight. She looked confused, sprinting to the spot he had been seconds ago. "Damn it. He has a stand too? I thought I'd be able to take him down quickly." She muttered, "What does it do. Teleportation? Maybe, I'll just have to keep walking and I'll find him."

She walked off, disappearing into the trees and away from Bo, his stand had lost it's affect against her now that she was gone. But it didn't matter now that she was somewhere else looking for him. "Now that she's been dealt with... Where did that dude take JoJo? I hope she's faring well against him. I don't doubt her skills of course, she could've easily killed me if she stayed focused." He mused, walking in the direction he and Isa had entered.

Humming a tune that he'd created moments ago he kicked at the grass beneath his feet as he walked. Bo was about to reach the area where Isa and her friend's cabin was but a sudden force crashing into him. "Aha! Caught you!" Isa stood with a foot over his chest, the heel of her boot pushed against his rib cage.

"Hey- Can't really breathe right now." He said, reaching for her leg. 

Isa only looked down on him, she snickered, "I might if you explained your stand, I don't like secrets, especially ones by men such as you." 

"That's, that's it? All I need to do is tell you what my stand does?" He asked, looking up at the terrifying female.

"Yeah, then I can beat you to hell and back." She replied, moving her foot.

"Well, my stand is Pale Machine... Allows me to..." He grinned, "Disappear." The look of anger and confusion on Isa's face made him laugh, he rolled to the side, barely missing a kick.

Bo stood up and watched as Isa rolled up the sleeves of her coat as she continued to punch and kick at thin air. "If I go long enough I'll hit him." He heard her mutter.

He barely stifled a laugh, "As if." He scoffed quietly, watching as Isa got increasingly mad, her face scrunched up with distaste. 

She froze, leaning to her right, like she had when the guy was talking to her, except this time no one was there. "Really now. Did I not pay attention enough, or had I forgotten." She murmured. Isa continued to stay still, continuing to lean.

Bo took that as his okay to leave while she wasn't paying attention, with on last glance behind him he waved and faced forward, focusing on the greenery in front of him. 

His escape was short lived though, rather than something running into him this time, he ran into something, falling back. Bo looked up, expecting that he had just run into a tree that blended in with the vegetation. What his eyes were met with wasn't that.

It was some type of robot-wolf hybrid, it obviously was divided into parts like a robot, but it also had a tail and ears. What could it be though, some experiment let into the wild? Or something completely absurd that he couldn't ever fathom in his mind.

"Pardon the intrusion but it seems you've tried to escape." It said, staring down at him. He shifted nervously under it's gaze. "Your stand lets you turn invisble when in it's range. Once out you appear visible to those affected."

"Uh-huh, thats exactly what it does, thank you for repeating, now what the fuck are you and why did you follow me." He asked, standing up and looking around, making sure that she-devil doesn't attack him again.

"I cannot give you that information. Apologies but it happens to be against my instruction." It replied, still staring at Bo with its luminous eyes. Unsettling didn't describe how he felt around this thing.

"Then what can you do?" He asked, picking up a stick nearby and breaking it into pieces.

"I can distract you." Its response was confusing, but it hit him soon after. This thing was here to stop him, dread pooled in stomach. "God fuck you." He muttered, Bo turned around before he was once again tackled.

Isa's hair was disheveled, her breathing erratic like she'd been running for hours, which she might as well have been. "I'm tired of you running away from me you wuss." She looked over at the robot and she nodded. 

The exchange was quiet, and he hadn't a clue what she was saying to the thing, but he couldn't think straight anyways considering half of the psychotic female's weight was on him.

She stepped back, allowing Bo to take a deep breath, she didn't try and attack him as he picked himself back up and got himself ready. He didn't know what to do, run? No, he'd already tried that. Fight? Maybe, though it'd probably be easier to fight against the guy in skates, he was sure he'd be able to take her down after a few minutes.

He raised his hands, getting ready to hit her if needed. His mother always told him to never hit girls, Bo always kept that in mind until earlier that day when he hit Joella. He had morals before then but... Yeah, it was required in order to befriend her.

Isa looked over at him, her eyes narrowing, they looked... Feral, like she let animalistic instincts take over. Like a cat attacking their prey she swiftly ran towards him and swiped at his face, attempting to graze it with her strangely sharp nails.

Barely dodging the sudden attack, he knew he had to say something, he was honestly confused. "Hold on, what's going on, and where did that robot thing go?" He asked, avoiding another attempt on his face.

"Obviously dumbass it's my stand if you couldn't tell." Isa grumbled, stepping back from him, she looked less angry, more toned down. As if whatever had taken over her had suddenly left. 

"Your stand? So what's it do?" He asked, "And why do I have to tell you my life story but when I want to know you act offended." 

"If you're really dying to know, I'll tell you the name, I don't want to reveal the secret of my stands ability quite yet because it's truly funny seeing you try to use your brain." She laughed, "Wild Side, come out and say hi."

Said stand returned to their user's side, still staring at Bo, creepy stand, terrifying user he guessed. "Hey, what did your friend do with JoJo? I do hope he isn't harking her in any way." 

"Don't worry, he doesn't have the guts to actually kill... For the most part at least." She responded.

"But... Didn't you say not to underestimate him?" He countered.

"I did. Though I never said he couldn't put up a fight. Once he's on that hill he's dying on it."

"Oh." Was all he responded with, that was a really dedicated guy. Sure, he himself was a pretty devoted guy, having a good memory also added to it. Once he knew something was up about that phonecall he heard he knew he had to get to the bottom of it. But risking his life to complete a mission, no sir, not his preferred method of leaving the living realm.

The silence was thick, no one said anything, Bo would've said something but his head was empty, no snide remarks or witty questions were left.

"Well. It is time for me to partake in this now, are you ready?" Wild Side asked, facing Isa. She simply nodded, the stand phased back into their user and he immediately noticed the same crazed look in Isa's eyes that had been there. 

It was just then he noticed that after the first time she had went psychotic that she looked drained afterwards, as if something had vacuumed up all the energy she had. But now she seemed invigorated, like she could take down the world in a day.

"You better start fighting." Was what she said, "Cause I'm not letting you off easy this time." 

"Oh dear, this can't be good can it?" He mumbled, not noticing Pale Machine appearing next to him. Not having any ideas on what he could do to evade her, he then took notice to his stand that looked as terrified as he felt. "Glad you're on the same page as me buddy." He muttered, taking a deep breath and activating his ability. Bo hoped that she wouldn't be able to find him while invisble, this was the one thing he could do to evade her while she was like this.

"Come out now, no use in hiding, I'll find you some how." Isa said, looking around. She swiped at random spots, hoping she'd catch him.

"Save me please..." He muttered, praying he could escape her long enough to find Joella.

———

Where was this guy taking her? They hadn't been walking long, only two minutes or such, but they'd walked right from the cabin. The silence was awkward, he was less than a meter in front of her, somehow skating on the grass. 

Joella frowned, walking at a slower pace behind him, he stopped and turned around, grinning at her. "Alrighty! We are here." He said, excitement clear on his face.

"Cool." She responded, staring blankly at him. 

"So, what's your name? Mines Marc, Marc Baren!" This kid was too peppy for her to handle.

"Joella, or JoJo, I don't care. Nice to meet you, why did you bring me here?" She asked, trying to get right to the point. She had a feeling that a conversation with this guy would go on forever.

Marc clearly wasn't expecting the sudden wave of statements she had tacked together. "Oh, uh, well, my sis, I mean, my friend told me to take you over here and use our plan- I mean, told me to challenge you!" He looked nervous, that girl he'd been with was obviously the brains of the two, but she also seemed like the brawns in a way, she wasn't completely sure.

"Yeah, mhm, totally believe you dude." Sure her reply could be taken offensively but she didn't mind, it was up to the recipient to decide, "And what're you challenging me to?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip.

He seemed to have to process what she said, though she couldn't at all tell what he was thinking. "Well, hm, how do I say it..." He asked himself, rocking back and forth on his heels, "You and that guy, how did you guys find our house?" He asked.

"That wasn't anything on my part, Bo eavesdropped on your phone conversation sometime the other day, decoded he needed to be in your business and followed you two home numerous time." She explained.

Marc looked very confused to say the least, "Then how are you apart of this?" 

"What is this, twenty questions or something? Ugh, saw the guy at a train station, disappeared, reappeared, jumped off the train, I did as well. We fought it out, he somehow won and then dragged me here whilst telling me what I told you a moment ago."

He took a moment to take in all the information once again, "Huh, that's creepy, he just watched us?"

"That and memorized every pathway to you cabin." She responded with a shrug.

"Alright then, well, we should really stop talking now, I haven't a clue what my sis- friend, is doing right now, but she's probably knocking a bit of decency into... Bo was it?" He asked.

She nodded, but something about what he said confused him, twice now he's corrected himself after calling that girl 'sis', "Hey Marc. Care to explain why you keep switching up what you call the girl?" She asked.

He flushed, "Oh, well, uh, she's not really my sister, I just... I usually refer to her as that, we're basically family now, lived in that cabin for numerous years." Marc seemed embarrassed, oh well.

"Alright then, time to fight I suppose? Or do you have anymore questions." 

He shook his head, "I don't think so... Oh yeah! When you were talking 'bout that Bo guy, you said something about him disappearing, what'd you mean? Did he like, actually vanish, or did you accidentally think he did." 

Joella wasn't exactly prepared to answer that question, she knew she'd said it, but hoped she wouldn't have to expand upon it. "It depends on the circumstances, how much are you willing to believe?" 

He took a step forward, looking more excited than anything, "I can believe a lot of things! Stranger things have happened to me, more than you'd think." He laughed.

"Great, that means less convincing I need to do on my part." She sighed, "Have you by chance heard of a stand." 

A look of what seemed to be excitement and bewilderment crossed his face, "Woah! You're telling me that you know what they are too? I though me and Isa were the only ones!" Marc yelled.

Hold on, "What?" This kid wasn't serious. He couldn't be, they too had stands? No, that was too outlandish to be possible. Bo just had to overhear a conversation between two possibly deadly people... Or a deadly person, at a glance, Marc didn't seem like he could put up much of a fight. "So you have a stand." He nodded, "The one only others with stands can see." Another nod. "Your friend too?" 

"Yeah, what do you not get? You have one?" He asked, looking down at JoJo.

"I wouldn't know about them otherwise," She muttered, "Unlike you, I don't believe everything so easily." 

He frowned at that statement. "I don't believe in everything, you just met me can't assume things about strangers!" 

"Guess so." Was her response, "Anyways, are we fighting or not? Getting real tired of standing." 

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that Joella, Isa'd be real mad if she found out I've been talking." He said.

"Right, so, start it off? You or me." Joella was tired, he said they'd start earlier then decided to have a tea party and exchange life stories.

"Uh, what, what about it's like a game of hide and seek, you hide and I come to find you." He suggested with a nervous smile, eyes darting around the areas behind Joella.

She squinted at him, weighing the outcomes, if she did indulge in the stupid request she could just book it and find Bo, or she could turn it down and just beat the shit out of him. JoJo decided to humor Marc and play Hide and Seek: Life on the Line Edition.

"Let's do it. Count to thirty, no peeking or I'm kicking your teeth out." JoJo said, turning away from the skater.

"I need my teeth. Please don't." He said, walking towards a tree and facing it, "Okay! I'm gonna start counting!" 

"One...

"Two...

"Three..."

As he counted up, Joella began to run, she didn't have a clue where, but she knew she had to find Bo...

Shit.

She didn't keep count. Marc probably hit thirty already and was looking for her. "Wait, stop reminiscing and keep running, he'll find you if you keep lollygagging." She muttered, looking back behind her. 

A sudden feeling of unease settled over Joella, like someone was watching her... There was wasn't there. She turned to her right, fist ready to meet a face or gut or something that'd hurt a hell of a lot.

Instead she barely missed Marc who was standing right next to her, "Close one! I'm sure you coulda hit me if you were just a tiny bit forward!" He declared, grinning at her, his face fell moments later, "That's right, I still have to fight you, I'm really sorry for what I'm going to do." 

He undid the clasp on his helmet, the blue piece of plastic causing a glare. "Needs to be fair game, I can't have extra stuff when you don't have much... Anything else?" 

She simply stared at him, this guy had to be joking. They were literally two people with supernatural abilities in the middle of a forest about to fight and he was asking whether or not he could keep on safety gear.

"Dude. I just want to finish this fight and get back with my acquaintance, stop stalling and let's begin. We've already postponed this enough."

"Right sorry, how about a-"

"No more fucking games."

"Okay!"

Joella was tired of this bullshit, this was getting repetitive.

"How about we start with my fist hitting your stupid fucking face!" She yelled, throwing a punch at the blue and red clad target. 

Marc looked surprised, lucky for her but not for him, it hit. He recoiled and looked up at JoJo. "Nice one." He muttered, looking honestly hurt, "I coulda stopped that though... Isa always told me to stay on my guard and how I can stop those and I didn't listen. I hope she'll have a good laugh later..." 

She was quite sure she wasn't supposed to hear that but oh well, his fault for being within earshot...

God she was turning into Bo En, stalker friend with no remorse.

Turning away from Marc for a quick second to focus in on a nearby sound, she wasn't expecting the sudden hit from the skater. She really shouldn't have underestimated him, he might be scrawny, but he sure as hell could pack a punch

"This is more like it," She uttered, spitting out blood, "Nasty blow, good hit. Let's get this party started " She charged once again, going for another blow, her attack was short lived unfortunately. 

Though she hit her target, nothing happened, it seemed as if she'd never even touched him. Looking up at Marc in mild surprise, all.he had to day was, "Let's get the party started...

"Soft Cell!"

A mildly neon humanoid figure phased out from inside him, "My stand is able to receive quite a bit of knocking about before I feel the pain, it goes the same for everything it enters." He said proudly, "In other words, I didn't feel a thing!" 

Suppressing a sigh, she began to speak, "We're really going to go down this road aren't we? I was really hoping this would be quick and I wouldn't have to bring out Speaking in Tongues again today... But, I suppose I'll make an exception just for you sice you wanted to make things so needlessly complicated."

Marc looked a little hurt, "I was just playing my cards the way I got them, there's no need to be rude though." 

"Says the guy who socked me."

"Same to you."

"Let's just get on with it, there's no need to be petty and fight like the Real Housewives."

"What?"

"Ugh, you too? Guess you weren't forced to go to relatives houses to watch American tv programming. Honestly, you guys are missing out." She muttered.

"Oh, I'll have to look it up sometime... Though reception around here isn't good."

"You live in the middle of the woods. What do you expect?"

"I just said it, better reception."

"I swear I'm going to-" Joella went at Marc, she finally had enough of the useless talk. She held her arms out, ready to do something that'd cause harm because she was up to here in bullshittery and she was sick and tired of it."

Turns out, Speaking in Tongues had subconsciously appeared behind her and began to assist JoJo in attacking him. They were closer to the cabin than she thought they were because the two went barreling into it, most likely the impact hitting her more than Marc considering he if he had his stand activated or not.

She backed up, Marc staying down, the logs were now cracked and caving into themselves. They crumbled down, cascading on top of the skater. Joella wasn't even sure if he was alive or not, she hadn't heard him call for Soft Cell so she couldn't confirm whether or not it took the blow.

She waited, hoping there'd be an indication for the welfare of Marc, not that she cared, she simply needed to know the result.

JoJo had a feeling he was knocked out, there hadn't been anything else proving it otherwise.

Finally she had an opportunity to find Bo, he was gone so now all they had to deal with was the freaky girl.

That was her thought process before Marc, like a phoenix rising from its ashes, arose from the debris of his former log cabin.

"Well shit." 


	4. Soft Cell and Wild Side part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each in their own battle, Joella and Bo continue to face their attackers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, started in person school, now I can only write late at night or in between classes. As always, chapter song is Tokyo Pharaoh by ALI, see you next time!

He had already evaded Isa for five minutes and his energy was running low, sure he's had plenty of practice keeping Pale Machine up and running for a long time, but the stress of escaping was making it so much more difficult to do so.

"Stop acting like a pussy and fight me like a man!" She yelled, kicking a tree and surprisingly leaving a mark.

"Damn... Does she have steel in those boots?" He laughed quietly, Isa's head jerked towards him, that quickly shut him up.

Bo still didn't have a single clue what Isa's stand could do, if anything, it just enraged her more, like user like stand, he almost started laughing again before catching himself, "Close one, right Pale... Dude. No. You didn't."

His stand turned towards him and gave him a thumbs up, it's screen changing expressions to match the gesture.

The only problem with that was the fact that Pale Machine had mistakenly taken off its cover, revealing both their locations.

Almost Immediately, the girl turned around and spotted the stand. If that wasn't the big indicator on where he was then it was probably the purple glow that surrounded him that happened to be protruding from behind the tree.

"Found you found you found you!" She called out, leaping towards the poor stand. It's screen quickly switched to a terrified expression, looking at Bo in horror.

"You brought this upon yourself bud." He muttered quickly before deactivating it. Bo was too tired to keep Pale Machine summoned, his energy was low enough as is, and he knew that Isa wasn't planning on backing down anytime soon.

He realized that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and narrowly missed a swipe from the she-devil herself. "This has been long over due Bo En, pay up, I say you're pretty deserving of what's coming to you." She barked out. He moved out of the way again, taking shelter behind yet another tree, when nothing happened after a few short moments he peeked around the trunk, waiting to see Isa right in front of him.

When he was met with nothing but a grassy expanse, he let out a sigh of relief, glad she was finally gone. Bo turned back and shut his eyes, he needed this solitude and silence, the fight with Joella from earlier had really taken a toll on him and the fatigue had really began to set in.

When he opened them the first thing he saw was Isa obstructing his vision, normal stuff... No, wait, her in front of him?

He did a double take, looking back. Isa was in fact in front of him, hanging upside down from a tree branch.

“You lose pretty boy.”

“You think I’m pretty? Really, you shouldn’t have…” He laughed, at first it was genuine, he was hilarious obviously, but when he opened his eyes again after a good ten seconds the laughter turned to fear. He really shouldn’t be making jokes in front of her anymore should he?

Without a single word from Isa, she grabbed his arms and swung him up into the tree alongside her. The branch wasn’t the sturdiest, but that wasn’t the most concerning thing. It also wasn’t the bloodthirsty look from Isa either. What really scared him was high up in the tree they were, originally, he’d thought it was average sized, maybe a little shorter. Clearly he had misjudged.

But how?

It seemed impossible to mistake a tree this height for something much shorter. Cutting himself off from his own thoughts, Bo looked back over to where Isa was, rather than returning his stare she was already climbing up the tree branches to a higher spot. Of course, she didn’t seem to stay in one place for a long time.

“Where ya going?” He called, standing up on a narrow branch.

Isa didn’t bother to look down when replying, “Trying to get away from you.”

“What? I thought you were trying to go after me?”

“Not anymore, Not with the chaos that might ensue shortly.” She replied simply before disappearing into the branches.

“Chaos..?” He echoed, “But… she’s the cause of most chaos that’s happened so far.” His thoughts were everywhere, he wasn’t able to focus on one and it was making it difficult to find the right plan of action he needed to track down Isa.

The sound of birds alerted him and suddenly he was on a different branch, when did he carry out that action? He remembers turning his head and suddenly he’s two feet higher. Looking towards a new sound, one of coughing, he saw Isa, perched on the same branch he was on. The look on her face made his stomach turn, she was smirking, that couldn’t be good. Without a word she looked down to the branch they were sitting on and silently jumped up to the next. Bo had no clue what she was on about, but glancing at the spot she had, he realized the problem.

The branch was going to break.

It wasn’t a very sturdy tree in the first place which only made the current situation worse. His thoughts still misplaced, he had no clue what he needed to do. Jump to another branch? Go down with it? He still couldn’t gauge how tall the tree was, it could be five meters to the ground, it could be twenty for all he could tell.

A loud crack rang out through the forest, Bo En felt himself floating through the air and the wind rushing around him. He couldn’t stop himself, nor did he make an attempt to, something about how he felt just made it seem as if he wouldn’t get harmed. It could’ve been true, it couldn’t. But all he honestly cared about was how eerily silent it was. Did the wind stop? Where were the happily chirping birds he’d heard seemingly moments ago.

The sky sure did look beautiful today, he hadn’t noticed, too busy trying to run for his life from both Joella and Isa. When was he on the ground? He sat up, wait, he already was. When though? Isa was there too, standing right in front of him, Wild Side standing next to her like a faithful dog. “How was the trip? You aren’t looking the best.” Isa said, it seemed like she actually cared, but something deep down knew not to trust her.

“Despite falling out of a tree, I’d say I’m doing quite fine.” Bo replied, he was lying, something was still up with his perception of his current reality. He wasn’t sure how good of a lie detector Isa was, but it didn’t matter in the long run.

She simply stared at Bo, had he ever mentioned how intimidating her eyes were? No, not her eyes, her in a whole, her entire being was the scariest thing he’d ever seen. Was she going to say anything soon? Oh, nevermind, she was, he was too tangled up in the mess that was his current thoughts to process that she had been speaking. Oh well. Better listen now.

“-- stand’s effect, so you are quite the liar. Insufferable and dishonest? Never thought I’d hate someone more than I did another person.”

Hold on, she was talking about her stand? “You have to be kidding me.” He muttered, careful to stay quiet enough to where she couldn’t hear. Isa fell silent, turning away from Wild Side to watch him once again

“Can you shut up. I didn't ask you to say anything.”

“Dude I- I'm sorry, dang...”

She glared at him for a moment more, her stand dissolving into nothing as she crossed her arms. “How are you feeling right now?” she suddenly asked after seemingly eternal silence.

“What? What kind of question is that?” Bo asked, stifling laughter.

“Answer the fucking question you unbearable prick.”

“Alright! I will answer. I am feeling okay. Is that all that you require to know or do you desire more knowledge on my current well being?”

“Do not get smart with me right now.” Isa looked like if anyone said anything else she'd attack any and all living things around her. “And stop lying. I know you don't feel fine. The effects of my stand are sure to have made sure of that.”

“How do you know my wellbeing?” He didn't actually care about her response, but he was chilled by the fact that she knew he wasn't feeling his best.

What did Isa's stand do? Was that the reason his senses were weird earlier? He needed to know and he had a feeling that he wasn't getting told.

But all he wanted to focus on know was the drowsiness that overcame him. Bo stood up, how far could he run before his body gave out? How long would it take for Isa to find him? He has no idea, but he needed to do something fast.

The breeze picked up, rather than a light wind traveling through the forest, a heavy sweep shook the branches, leaves cascading across the grassy floor. Isa's coat blew in the wind, the only thing keeping it from picking up completely was the ribbon tied around the center. The grey of her attire stood out against the flora, but the green also merged.

It was quite the sight, but that wasn't the important thing. Bo still required an escape plan, one he didn't have.

He wondered where Joella was, did she beat that guy? Hopefully. She was strong.

Had he mentioned how Isa looked like a goddess? If the sun was behind her her silhouette would make her seem like some forgotten wonder.

Oh well, it was time to run, she wasn't paying attention. She was standing... Were they near the clearing where they started? She was right next to the entrance where they had entered oh so long ago. He wanted to see what she was so focused on, but that would only blow his cover. Bo was curious though, she'd been so set on watching his every move, but now she was hardly paying attention to him.

Isa seemed stuck in her spot, he took this opportunity to quickly glance at her focal point and run. Sneaking up behind her, he caught sight of her cabin... Or what remained of it. The side had caved in, that didnt seem good.

Before Isa could see... Or smell... Or whatever she did to track him down.

Bo ran, ran as fast as he could... Deja vu much? It seemed as this was what he'd been doing the entire day. Oh wait, it was. Even though he became increasingly tired, he fought to be on his feet. His pace had significantly slowed yet he was still on the move.

Pausing for a few seconds, he listened for the rustle of leaves, that way he'd know how long of a break he could have before having to continue his escape.

Nothing.

That's good, he couldn't deal with more physical activity... All he needed was a bit of rest. That was all.

Shutting his eyes briefly, or what he thought was brief, he slowly came to his senses. Opening his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, that was until he realized that he was pinned against a tree.

Someone had found... Vines? And tied him to a tree. As if he hadn't been in this situation enough times today.

“Ugh. Finally. It's been ten minutes. That really took a toll on you huh.” Isa swung down from a tree branch, landing right in front of him, “Ot's about time you learn the truth. Or just what you couldn't figure out with basic context clues.”

“Oh goodie. Great news to hear.”

“Shut it. Anyways, Wild Side here can affect someone, anyone I desire, to undergo the effects of what's essentially an adrenaline boost. Though it may mess with ones perception, it does have perks. Once that boost runs out, it drains as much energy as was given.” She paced around leisurely as she explained, a genuine smile appearing the more she said.

“Wow. Very interesting, so interesting I'm writing it down in my notes."

Isa turned to glare at him, any traces of her being something other than angry now gone.

Way to go Bo.

He didn't have enough time to say his apologies before a shooting pain in his jaw alerted him, Isa's fist was inches away from his face, the glove on her hand now dripping with his blood.

Unfortunately that did not wake him up anymore, he hadn't a single chance to react before he fell unconscious.

———

This wasn't good.

Not good at all.

Somehow, Marc was still alive and well, even after he crashed through the side of his cabin.

Fortunately, the kid explained his stand to her so she had that advantage at least. Joella had already began planning her strategy to defeat him.

It was simply what she did to Bo earlier, make him unable to call for his stand, it was easier said than done though. She'd discovered that in order to effectively affect him she would have to make sure he stood in one place.

That was the problem.

Marc had roller skates, ones that only increased his speed. Though they were in the middle of the forest, where the ground wasn't flat and smooth. That was good.

He might've been fast, but the forest was his disadvantage.

Tuning back into the real world, she watched as Marc stared at the remains of his home continued to crumble down on itself. Joella couldn't see his face, and she didn't know him well enough to imagine what his current reaction to the situation was.

He could be crying for all she cared... which she didn't. He and his friend decided to pick a fight with her and Bo and the whole situation could've been avoided if he had just let them go on their merry way.

She finally realized this was her chance to strike, he wasn't moving around and he couldn't evade considering his back was turned. Perfect.

JoJo looked behind her, hoping Speaking in Tongues was still behind her, she didn't want to risk her opportunity to attack by calling for her stand to come out.

A momentary panic struck when she didn't see her stand right away, but it quickly faded away when she noticed it stick their head out from behind a tree. Repeating the words she had said earlier to Bo, Joella successfully disabled Marc’s ability to speak.

It seemed he hadn’t noticed, he still stared longingly at the cabin… He was making her feel really bad. There must’ve been a lot of memories contained there if he was that distraught over the loss of his home. Personally, if she lost a place she’d lived in for a while, she wouldn’t have minded all too much. Memories, good or bad, weren’t all that influential to her, if she had a bad experience somewhere, she’d most likely come back. One bad thing that happened at one point in time was in the past, unless it was something major, it didn’t bother her.

…

Now she felt really bad about attacking him while he was distracted.

Before she could question herself anymore, Marc suddenly turned around and looked at Joella, he looked like he’d been hit by a truck and left to sit there. The once cheerful glow that shone in his eyes had diminished and all that was left was a dull pink.

He opened his mouth to say something, but after a few seconds of silence he realized he couldn’t. He grimaced, looking up to Joella, Marc unenthusiastically tried to mime something to her, but his movements were sloppy and she couldn’t decipher any of it. Momentarily pausing, he put his hands down, completely giving up on any forms of communicating with her.

Walking away, JoJo made no attempt to stop him from leaving, if he stayed away forever, she’d just find Bo and they would go on their merry way. As he left, she finally realized that for once, he was walking normally, not even making an attempt to skate. He was really upset about his house wasn’t he?  
Joella stood there, she didn’t have any way to keep track of the time, but she knew not much had passed whenever she saw neon pink peek out through the leaves.

Marc was back.

Leaning towards his direction, she also noticed Isa standing next to him. She had something slung over her shoulder that resembled a human -- It was Bo, it was definitely him. She couldn’t leave him alone for however long and he gets himself beat up.

Glancing away from Isa, she focused back onto Marc who seemed to be in the middle of explaining something to her… more like mouthing it, her stand’s grip on his abilities had loosened so he was most likely able to comprehend everything he was trying to mouth. He looked the least bit happier but it was better than he had been.

Marc paused, and Isa began to say something, what exactly? Joella hadn’t a clue, but she began to make motions with her hands as best she could with a body over her shoulder. It looked like she was pretending to punch something non-existent. Isa was probably ticked with her, understandable, even if the reason was unknown.

He slowly nodded, backing away slightly before pointing towards their old cabin, motioning something to her. Isa replied and her expression faded into something that bordered upset anger. She said one last thing to him before walking off to who knows where.

Looking down to his helmet that he held, Marc put it back onto his head, scuffing his feet on the ground as he walked back to the area she remained in.

As soon as he stepped into Speaking in Tongues’s range she commanded her stand to attack, though it was much more exhausting to will her stand to attack at the same time she was trying to keep Marc from bringing his stand back out, she willed herself to be the lone victor of their battle.

Somehow miscalculating the attack, Joella’s blow hadn’t reached his face as intended, but rather his helmet, the strangest part was her hand began to sting, it hurt her, but Marc didn’t react at all. The shock of her new injury, Speaking in Tongues’s abilities were immediately released. He stood still for only a few moments before smirking and looking over at her, “Got you.” He said quietly. Soft Cell’s form spilled out of the helmet, it appeared to be slightly battered.

“You have to be kidding me.” She mumbled, of course he had kept his stand around, taking it off earlier had just been a distraction to allow Soft Cell to reside within it. Even without knowing what her stand was capable of, he still devised a plan that perfectly countered hers. Joella really shouldn’t have assumed what he could do.

She needed to think of a counter-attack and fast, Bo already being taken down wasn’t good in the first place, but she really didn’t want to join him either. She could try and distract him again before knocking him upside the head or into his gut, but JoJo really had no clue.

After thinking for a good thirty seconds, Joella settled on the distraction part. Now all she needed to do was find something to distract him. Keeping as blank as a face as possible she turned to Marc, “Where’d your friend go? I’m really hoping she didn’t kill mine.”

“Uh… Isa went-- some… where?” He responded, it was a natural reaction, it had been so quiet for such a long time that he was flustered by the sudden conversation. The two essentially had a staring contest, both waiting for their opponent to chicken out and look away. Luckily Joella came prepared, she had always been great at holding a cold stare, enough practice allowed her to eventually creep people out if they maintained eye-contact for a long enough time.

“So you’re telling me you don’t even know where she went? That’s sad dude. Real sad.” She said, shaking her head.

“I- er- uh, well-” He looked off towards the cave behind their old house, perfect, now he wasn’t focused on her. Joella summoned her stand and slowly moved towards him, careful not to alert him of her shifting positions. Clenching her fist together, she and her stand mimicked each other's movements until Speaking in Tongues was perfectly lined up with Marc.

“Surprise.”

It’s fist lodged into his back and he fell forward, collapsing onto the ground.

“Ow.”

“Are you finally ready to give in?” She asked, moving closer to stand over him.

“Yeah, pretty sure… Though I don’t think Isa is gonna be too happy about it…” He replied, turning his head to the side.

“Get up then. I have something to ask you anyways.”

Marc took a minute to stand up and brush off any dirt that was on his clothes, “What is it?”

She had to carefully craft what she wanted to say, if it wasn't said perfectly then it'd all go down hill. Joella took a deep breath, “Even without knowing what Speaking in Tongues could do, you still managed to outsmart me by keeping Soft Cell hidden, so whenever I went in for the attack I wasn't able to get a good hit in. To be honest, you've surprised me and I really shouldn't have doubted your abilities.”

Marc took a second to take it all in, “Thanks...? But, why?”

“Accept that as my formal invitation to join Bo and I. Whether you want to or not I'll respect your decision.”

“I- uh, can you follow me for a minute? I need to find Isa.”

Joella shrugged, whatever he wanted, she probably should've asked Bo on his opinion on Marc joining but then again... His judgement on things was questionable.

Just as she did at the beginning, she followed Marc, they returned to the ruins of the cabin and he paused at the entrance to the cave. “You can come in if you want. Be careful for spiders and stuff though.”

With a quick nod of her head, Joella and Marc descended into the depths of the cave. “Isa! Are you in here?” He yelled, his voice echoed off the walls, traveling deep inside into the dark stone cavern.

After seconds of hearing his voice repeat itself, there was a reply, “Marc? Are you back?” Isa’s voice rang out, her form soon following, “Did you finally deal with her and win… why is she standing next to you Marc.” Her grin faded as she caught sight of Joella, awkward wasn’t it.

“Well, you, uh, well you- well you see Isa, JoJo here defeated me in our little scuffle and she asked if I wanted to-”

Isa cut him off, “Don’t even finish that sentence Baren.”

“Oh no.” His face paled, he looked at Isa as if she were a rabid dog that was seconds away from pouncing. “What’s with the sudden last name?” Marc asked carefully, “‘Cause you can calm down now. No need for any- any, any violence-”

“Shut up.” Isa barked, “There is a need. You- you just want to leave me behind. After everything we’ve been through together. It just isn’t good enough for you is it. You were just waiting for the day someone would take you away.” Joella couldn’t tell if the girl was angry or upset, but the look on her face was hurt regardless.

She turned to see how Marc was reacting, it wasn’t good either. “Hey now Isa, I- I would never think of anything like that. I was, I was going to ask if, if you wanted to come along too… I don’t want to leave you behind.” He replied quietly.

Isa remained quiet, it looked as if she was considering the offer, Marc looked hopeful. “No.”

He was quick to answer, “That’s great! I can- Wait, why not?” Crestfallen, he looked disbelievingly at Isa.3

“I just beat this idiot up for trespassing, and you were supposed to do the same yet you’re standing next to her now saying that you want to be best friends. Why wouldn’t I want to.”

“I- uh- what- uh, how about- how about- how about- how about- how about Joella!” He stammered. She had no idea what he was trying to say, but she’d do her best to say something.

“I invited Marc to join Bo and I for a reason. He seems to have a strong thought process and I felt we needed that in our group. By the looks of Bo currently, I can tell that you too have your own set of special skills. I can tell that he really wants you to come along with us and I can also tell that he does care about you a lot. I know we’re complete strangers, but I’m sure Bo can probably tell me everything that happened and I can judge you from there.”

“Give me some time to think. Take your dumbass friend with you while I do so.” Isa kicked her foot in the direction of Bo, and with a sweep of her coat she was going deeper into the cave.

“Help me out?” She asked Marc, moving to stand next to Bo. Isa really did a number on him if he's been out for this long.

“Okay.” Marc muttered, he knew Isa better than she did, so it was obvious he knew the answer she would give them.

Lifting Bo En by his arms, and Marc taking his legs, they carefully maneuvered him out of the cave and set him down near the entrance. The two returned, Joella leaned against the wall, waiting for Isa to return to give her final answer.

It seemed like it took hours, but it was most likely minutes, but she finally returned, the clicking of her shoes alerting them of her presence. “I've decided.”

“What's your decision?”

“I won the fight. I don't understand why I should join two assholes and my friend after I rightfully challenged and defeated my rival fair and square.” Isa stated.

Marc looked at the floor, he was probably envisioning the rest of what she'd say.

“But, I couldn't imagine leaving my best friend alone with people he just met. I'd be am awful person if I allowed Marc to not let him do something he's set on. So I guess I'll join.”

“Really? You- You'll really come with me?”

Isa, looking at Marc with a crooked grin, nodded, “I couldn't imagine not.”

Marc's face lit up, he ran towards his friend at full force, gliding across the stone floor with ease and hugged Isa, picking her up off the ground. She returned the embrace, her yellow eyes gleaming with joy as the two stood there together.

“Are they done yet?” A sudden voice in Joella's ear made her jump, turning around to see Bo, she almost punched him then and there.

“How are you even awake. You were out cold five minutes ago.”

“I have my methods.” He winked.

Bo certainly was bruised, he had a few on his face, the most prominent on his jaw, and a few scratches as well.

She hadn't realized that« Marc and Isa were now next to them too, “What's our first plan of action cap?” Bo asked, grinning widely as he saluted JoJo.

“Find Myrtlough I guess, either of you know where it is?”

“I have a rough idea, mostly east from here, it's a fairly big place so you'll see the gates from less than a kilometer away.” Isa replied.

“Great, you mind leading us? I'd rather not get off track again.”

Isa nodded before quickly running around the cave and grabbing a few things, “Marc! Grab whatever shit you want from the house, we might not be back for awhile.”

“Got it.” Marc ran off as well, out the entrance to the wood remains of the fallen cabin.

“Alright. Get out of here. I don't want him to stay any longer.” Isa glared at Bo, enunciating the part that involved him directly.

“Alrighttt, got it, you don't like me.”

“Out.”

Joella and Bo obeyed her command and left, standing awkwardly outside the cave for Isa to exit and Marc to return.

Eventually the four regrouped and confirming that “Everyone's shit was together” and walked through the forest, only earlier that day had she not known a single one of them, but now? She was hours off her original course and now on the adventure of a lifetime.

“How bizarre can life be?” Joella mumbled.

“What was that JoJo? Were you talking to me?”

“I wasn't Bo. Why would I do something as awful as that.”

“Hey!”

“She's not wrong.”

“Ganging up on me are we? C'mon Marc, tell me your on my side.”

“I don't know you. And by what I can tell from Isa you're uh...”

“Ah fuck you guys.”

“You too buddy, you too.”

———

A loud knocking disrupted the silence of the room as well as the sound of a glass cup being set down.

“Who is it?” A female sitting at the end of a long table asked, raising her voice slightly to allow the other to hear.

“It's me dearest, don't fret.” The person replied, their voice muffled through the door.

“Enter then, as long as it's not one of those idiots. I couldn't bear having to deal with them right now.”

The old door creaked as it was opened, the guest warmly grinned at the female before taking a seat at the other end.

“What's today's topic of discussion about?”

“Noir.”

“What about her?”

“She's spotted a band of people in the forest outskirts, it seems they're coming towards us.”

“I could only expect this to happen again. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone else tried to dispose of all my hard work.” The female said, “No matter, send Noir out to inspect some more, if they come too close, she is to take them down.”

“That's going to be a slight problem dearest...”

“What now?”

“She's working out some issues with Nickal... Again.”

“Ah, another tally for me, fifth time within three months. Put it down on the board?”

“Of course.” The guest chuckled as they moved to grab a piece of chalk from the center of the table. They walked over to a board hanging on the wall and put another line under the lady's name.

“I have to go now, I've been asked to attend the casino once more for you know who...”

“Yes. Naturally. I'll see you around, remember to remind Noir of her duties and what's important.”

“Will do.”

The door slammed shut, the female grinning, “I haven't looked forward to something this much for quite a while... Let the games begin.”


	5. Beatophone Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief encounter and another stalker leads Bo to, yet another fight with a woman who really wants to kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been such a long time, I was very unmotivated to write. I got inspiration a few days ago though, so here I am a few days later with a chapter that's 7424 words long. It has a lot of French word, so feel free to look up stuff, I apologise if it isn't accurate, I tried my best.  
> Chapter song is Aftermath by Caravan Palace

“Hey Isa, are we there yet?”

“You’re making me regret joining you guys.’

“Bo just shut up for once.”

The group was still walking, now out of the forest, though they were still far away from any civilization. 

“Okay, how much longer do you think?”

Isa stopped moving, turned around and glared at Bo, “Do I look like a map. Do you think I even know where we are?”

“You don’t know where we are?”

“No, I don’t Marc.”

“Oh.”

The silence between everyone lingered for all that could be heard was the wind whistling and the sound of shoes scuffing against the ground. “Why are you two wearing long sleeves? It’s super hot.” Marc asked, breaking the tense silence.

“Why are you wearing shorts and sleeves Bo, that’s really weird and I’ve been meaning to ask you that.”

“Because I look great.”

“Overruled.”

“Marc I don’t think you’re using the word right.”

“Overruled.”

“Anyways, you can’t judge me for what I wear, I personally find my clothes awesome.”

“Mine is practical. I can store stuff and strangle anyone at any given time.”

“This is why Isa can’t keep guard at night. She’ll probably end up killing one of us in our sleep.”

“Shut up. At least I’d stay awake.”

“Everyone stop talking.” Joella muttered, normally, she would’ve let the banter continue on, but something had caught her eye and she didn’t want to alert it with their god awful arguing. 

“What is it JoJo? You see the town yet?” Bo asked, moving to stand next to her, attempting to look where she was.

“Obviously not. It shouldn't be for another half hour or two.” Isa responded, adding to the conversation.”

“What do you see then? I don’t see… Oh, are you talking about that person?” Marc inquired, pointing towards the figure she was in fact looking at.

“How did you know? If these idiots couldn’t see it, I doubted you could.”

“Oh! ‘Cause they’ve been following us for a bit, you… didn’t know?”

“I’m sorry, repeat that for the class Marc?”

“That person has been trailing us for like twenty minutes…? Is that what you want to hear?”

“You’re telling me we’ve had a complete stranger behind us for almost a half hour and you decided not to mention it? Baren, you have an incredible mind, but you lack common sense.” Isa sighed, looking at her friend with great disappointment showing in her eyes.

Marc suddenly became very interested in his shoes. “Uh, with that out of the way, let’s go see what this creep wants.” Bo muttered, speaking to no one is particular.

The group turned around, ready to face their stalker. Rather than stopping and trying to hide, the person just continued to walk towards them. They had sunglasses on, obscuring their face and oddly colored magenta hair. 

Could it be a stand user? They looked the part, but their aura was in no way resemblant of their possible occupation. “It’s not nice to stare. Didn’t your mothers teach you that?” The stalker said smugly, the light reflecting off their glasses.

“Didn’t you learn not to follow people? It’s not nice to stalk people.” Isa retorted, the expression on her face mirroring anger.

“I was just waiting for the perfect time to ask you something. It’s very important to me and I rather not not waste my time trying to break through such dense incompetence.” They muttered, frowning as they looked at the group doubtingly.

“And what exactly were you planning on asking us that required following us around?” Joella asked, not buying the person’s story at all.

The magenta haired person thought for a moment, tapping the side of their shoddily painted glasses. They were half red and half blue, but the paint had chipped away, revealing glimpses of a previous pattern that had been there originally. “Oh no, I forgot to introduce myself. Artemisia ‘Artie’ or Marquess, though I prefer you call me Marquess for I only allow my friends to call me Artie.”

“Then why tell us your name..?” Bo asked, “‘Cause we’d just call you by whatever you say. So… bad on your part!” He grinned.

“If you don’t shut-” Isa turned to Bo, ready to jump at him before Marc interfered, stepping between the two.

“Not now guys! We have, we have company! This is not any way to show our best selves.” He said quietly, an obvious fake smile plastered on his face. He looked the most uneased out of all of them, his eyes wide, displaying his feelings.

“So. What was your question anyways?”

“I have a er, let's say she’s a friend of mine, I love her dearly, but it seems she’s gone missing and I can’t find her at all. So I saw you fools wandering around and I decided to take a risk and ask if you’ve seen her around.”

“Where’d you last see her?” Bo inquired, “I might’ve seen her ‘round, been to quite a few places.”

“Eh, Bolivia maybe? Or was it Peru, maybe it was still in Canada.”

“Pause, are you saying you don’t even know where you guys were?” Isa stopped menacingly glaring at Bo to look surprised at Marquess’s statement.

“She likes to travel a lot. Gets me confused, don’t even know where she’s dragging me until I see the welcome sign.” Marquess replied, looking the least bit concerned.

“What, what uh does she look like?” Marc asked nervously, he looked like he wanted to say something else, but by his body language, he was still too on edge.

“Blonde hair, amazing blue dye job that I happened to do, crazy fashion sense, oh, I probably should’ve started with that. You’ll definitely know it’s her when you see her outfit, striped shirt and spotted pants, girl looks like an actual clown too.” Marquess laughed, brushing her hair aside from in front of her sunglasses.

“No. I haven’t seen her anywhere. I don’t know about them, but I would've remembered.” Joella stated, crossing her arms as she stared at her.

There were various other denials of seeing her, a firm one, a cheery one, and one that sounded like it bordered on tears.

“Could she be a stand user?” Marc’s voice suddenly appeared next to Joella, he was whispering, giving worried glances back to Marquess.

“Something about her vibes seem off… So I totally agree.” Bo added in, both him and Isa crowding around each other.

“It’s something about how she talks… or looks at us I’m sure. If I could see her eyes I’d totally read her.”

“Maybe she does have the stand, that could be why she’s so… uncomfortable to be around.”

“You guys do know I can hear you right. Tall guy over there isn’t too good at keeping an inside voice.” Their potential enemy said flatly, though her face showed annoyance. Marquess took her sunglasses off, hair falling in front of her eye, she began to clean the lenses before looking up at the four, “Stands huh?”

Isa’s eyes narrowed, “What about them?” Her voice thick with suspicion, Wild Side appeared next to her, Isa not taking notice of it though considering she paid it no mind, the lady in front of them not either. Either she was very good at keeping a power face or she simply couldn’t see it.

“Mhm.” Marquess looked disinterested, sweeping the magenta locks from infront her eyes, the strands of hair returning to guard one, her visible green eye momentarily flicking between them, Before returning her sunglasses to their original spot upon her face. “Kims spouts stuff about stands all the time, thought she was just a ‘lil crazy, I mean, not that it’s too far fetched though.” She said before leaning towards them and putting a hand next to her head, “Brain damage.”

Wild Side lunged at Marquess, but phased through her, the almost victim simply stared at them, waiting for a reply from any of them. Isa’s posture straightened, nodding in affirmation and mumbling something to Marc. His shoulders dropped and Joella could immediately tell his uneasiness had finally melted away.

“Anyways. I can also tell that Mr. Helmet over there seemed threatened by me and I’m typically good at telling how people feel at any given time. So you’re talking to a forensic psychologist, still haven’t finished with my predoctoral internship done, I have about six months more work to do of that. Which is quite hard when you’re being dragged across the world.” Marquess sighed, “Good times though, lots and lots of memories we’ve made.”

“So you can’t see stands?” Bo asked, completely ignoring everything else she said, “Because that’s kind of important. And I don’t think anyone of us asked about your love life or whatever.”

Marquess looked away from where she was staring to focus on Bo with disgust clear on her features, taking off her sunglasses once again, her eyes also displaying that same feeling. “I don’t know who your parents are Tall Guy, but I can tell that neither cared about you enough to teach you some proper manners. Respecting your elders apparently has no meaning anymore.” She muttered, “He’s your friend Mr. Helmet? Or is he yours Wolf-Girl. Maybe he’s even your friend JoJo. Whoever’s friend he is you should beat a little sense into that tiny brain of his.”

“How do you know Joella’s na--”

“Great, you’re stupid too? It’s plain an obvious, look on her sleeve. Says JoJo, if you paid more attention you’d notice.” 

Everyone was stunned into silence, Marquess was… something all right. “How old are you exactly? I’d like to see if you’re deserving of the respect you want so badly.”

“I don’t know really, birthdays never mattered to me, Kims always made sure we celebrated, so if we met in… 2001? 2? She was… almost seventeen I believe and I had just turned nineteen and it’s…” Marquess trailed off, looking at them to finish her statement.

“2009” Marc piped in.

“Right… So she’s 25 now and that’d make me 27. Okay, 27. How old are you heathens?”

“17.” Joella said, the longer they talked the longer it’d be until they reached the stupid town, it was getting cooler, not drastically, but the sun was going to set soon and being out during night wasn’t the greatest idea.

“19!” Bo stated proudly, “Definitely older than the rest of these kids.”

Isa responded next, “18. Not that it matters in any way, Bo has the mental capacity of a twelve year old who doesn’t know common decency, so I’ll take the role of the oldest thank you very much.” 

“I’m 17 too, but I think my birthday is after JoJo’s.” Marc was last to say his age, looking embarrassed to be the youngest of the group.

“So I have about ten years max eh? Yeah, I’d appreciate a formal apology from Tall Guy.”

“Do I..?”

“Just do it Bo.”

“Okay.” Bo sighed, looking down at the ground with immense annoyance, “Dearest Marquess, this is my apology for being rude and not caring about a single thing you said.”

“Bo!”

“No, it’s fine kid, good enough for me. Now you’re sure you haven’t seen Kims anywhere?”

“I would’ve known if I had. But since you don’t even know where you were last I have to question how you got here in the first place.” Joella sighed. 

“Might’ve walked, maybe I took a bus or something, kinda foggy though.”

“You can’t be serious. It’d take like, 500 hours alone from Bolivia just to walk here, and who knows how long from Canada!” Bo yelled, waving his arms about.

“How do you know how long?” Marc asked, “Because most people don’t know that off the top of their head…”

“I just happen to know a lot of useless trivia,” Bo reasoned.

“That’s not trivia.”

“Okay… Then I know how to read a map.”

“It’s not that hard to just tell the truth, you do realize that, right?”

Bo let out a long, frustrated sigh, this was the angriest Joella had ever seen him. She had to admit that it wasn’t a pleasant sight to see, “Let's just say I’ve had to walk a few places a few times. Now if you’re done patronizing me over not sharing information I’d be a very jovial boy.”

Silence was his only answer, and with a nod of his head Bo turned around and continued in the direction that they had been going before Marquess had taken their time. “Hey Bo! Where do you think you’re going?” Isa yelled, running after him.

“To find this town. Refrain from walking too close to me though. I don’t want to breathe your filthy air.” Joella could faintly hear him exchange those words with Isa before the two disappeared into the distance.

“Alright, so, Marquess, it seems as if we’ve run out of time. I do apologize for not knowing where your friend is and I hope you find her. It was nice talking, goodbye.” She grabbed Marc’s arm before giving a wave towards Marquess.

“Yeah, uh, it was really nice, really nice talking to you!” Marc added, pulling his arm out of her grasp and sighing, moving at a faster pace to catch up with his new friends.

“Bye kid, stay safe, I’ve heard some bad things about these parts.” Marquess said, patting Joella on the shoulder. The last Joella saw of Marquess was her green eyes, magenta hair, and the swoop of her coat as she too walked into the horizon. 

Crap.

They needed to find the town, it was only going to be day for so much longer, and it wasn’t looking too long.

Bo was pissed, Isa was at fault, and Marc was kind of clueless. So It's not a great place to be when it's almost night, and you're trying to track down a town that was who knows where.

Joella followed in pursuit, “How did this happen.” She muttered, this was a terrible moment for the entire group and everyone needed to patch things up before they could fragment further.

She would've called it funny seeing Bo pissed, but it wasn't in any way comedic when she took in account the time it was. Damn she wish she still had a watch on her.

It was well over fifteen minutes when Joella found where everyone had taken refuge. Bo was leaning against a tree, a bag behind his head, probably mimicking a pillow. Marc was sitting next to him, fidgeting with his helmet. As well as Isa, who Joella hadn't seen at first, but she soon realized the wolfish girl was laying in the tree like Katniss had in the first Hunger Games book.

“Wow, took you long enough to get here JoJo!” Bo said, one eye open to look at her.

“You finally get over your pity party?” She asked on return, “That sure was an interesting sight seeing you get all hot and bothered.”

He looked to the side for a moment, “Yep, all better now, I haven't a clue what came over me.”

Isa decided to add on as well, “I'll say it was quite a show you put on Bo En, I'm sure you do have a reason. No use in hiding it.” She had flipped over, now staring down at everyone.

“No no, I'm fine, there was absolutely no reason for me to go off at everyone like that. I didn't even give a proper farewell to our good friend Artie.”

Marc was next to speak, “Didn't Miss Marquess say not to call her that..?” 

“Is she here?” Bo and Isa said in sync, once finsished, they looked at each other with varying emotions. It was easy to tell who felt what. 

Isa took a deep breath, allowing all her anger to fade and gave a half smile, “What shall we do now oh great leader?” 

Joella shrugged, she had enjoyed watching that play out, but now she was fresh out of ideas. “Anyone want to walk in the dark and hopefully find this town? If so, raise your hand.”

No hands went up, unless someone would count Marc putting it half up then back down once he realized no one else did. “That settles it then, we can sleep here for the night and get back on it tomorrow once it's bright and early.”

Everyone gave their agreement, “I can stand guard, I'm not letting anyone get close to us.” Isa offered, though it sounded more like a statement. She probably wasn't offering, she meant she would stay guard and that was final.

“We can do rotations maybe? Everyone should be in top shape for tomorrow!” Bo countered.

“Mmm no. Not happening.”

“What? You can't just stay up all night! That's crazy.”

“He does have a point Isa... It's not good for you to pull all nighters like we used to... I heard that your brain starts eating itself when you lack sleep.”

Defeated, Isa got down from the tree, “I'll wake someone in a few hours. Then I will sleep.”

No one dared to say anything else, at least they were able to reason somewhat with the girl.

———

“Sleeping... Of course they are. 'Yes yes yes! It is so perfect to sleep here in the dark woods where there are fiends of all sorts prowling around, let's stay here for the night!'” A grandiose lady sat cross legged in a near by patch of flowers, looking at the quartet through a pair of binoculars. 

She mocked them quietly, keeping her voice to a whisper. “Bleh, how could someone be so naive! I should take them out now! But no, I must lead them to this town, for that's what my goddess says to me! She has allowed my protection for so long and I must repay her wishes in anyway I can!” 

“Damn it, if that bastard Nickal had simply kept his mouth shut then I would've been fine here! But no, he has to make it all about himself of course, why wouldn't he?” She muttered, words clipped, “'How could you do this to me 'Nique? Why must you do this?' I'll show him how far I can go. He is simply jealous of how I am most trusted by Miss Silva! Oh Miss Silva I am doing your job the best I can!”

She began to say more but cut herself off when the girl she dubbed scariest looked over towards her direction. She ducked down and silently waited for the coast to clear, “I will take these children down for you Madame, I promise I will for my honor will not let me fail!”

———

When Joella was woken up by a beaming Bo she almost punched him in the face. He jerked back quickly, falling onto the ground, narrowly missing the hit. Someone laughed and someone else asked if the poor guy was okay.

“That's one way to start your morning, I take it you slept fine?” Bo asked once he regained his composure. Joella nodded, refusing to acknowledge what happened moments ago.

Looking over to her other pals, JoJo saw that the two friends were in deep conversation. Marc was talking about something that made him grin ear to ear and Isa nodded, listening to every word he said. They truly were best friends weren't they?

“So who took watch last night? I wasn't woken up so I assume it wasn't me.”

“Yeah, I woke Marc some after the moon was overhead. Though some time before I swear I heard another voice, but I couldn't find a body that'd go with it.” Isa shrugged.

“I didn't find anyone either, but I still got that creepy feeling as if someone was.” The skater added.

“So we finally heading out boss? Everything's been packed up, and by everything I mean basically nothing. Why didn't we plan ahead again?” Bo said, frowning.

“Because I had finished beating your ass and I was still pissed at everyone here.”

“Oh yeah, that's why.” The two stared at each other, Joella wasn't sure what they were trying to communicate. Instead of waiting for them to quit eye-fucking she put an arm around Marc's shoulder and began walking.

“They'll notice we're gone soon enough.” She told him with a shrug, “Let's go find this town.” Marc nodded and matched her stride, looking back to the pair of bickering idiots with a concerned smile.

“I do really hope they uh, they they notice we left!” Marc said through clenched teeth.

“Trust me, both you and I should be sure Isa will notice eventually. She has a good inner compass and direction.”

“You're right about that,” He admitted sheepishly, “I got lost in the woods once. I yelled for help, and then Isa found me pretty quickly. Funny thing is she knew the exact way back, so that kind of proves it right?”

“Oh definitely.” Marc suddenly stopped, looking back between the edge of the woods and behind him.

“Did you hear it Joella?” He whispered, looking at her with wide eyes, she shook her head and Marc continued to speak, “Feedback, from some sort of communication device. I usually only only hear that kind of stuff at the rinks whenever the DJ is playing a new song or announcing something. But I definitely know that someone is near us.”

She went silent and focused on listening to the world around her, if what Marc was saying was true, that meant someone was on their trail. A few moments of silence were followed by the sound of static. It went quiet before happening again.

The feedback continued in the same pattern for three minutes before completely disappearing. JoJo turned to Marc to ask him what his thoughts were, but she found him to be a few meters in front of her.

“Hey... Marc. Marc? Marc!” She yelled his name yet he still didn't face her, approaching the skater remained silent and unmoving. 

Standing beside him, Joella tried to get him to respond... But all she got was silence. Marc was entranced by something, his eyes dilated and unfocused. She tried to wave her hand in front of his face, get him to snap out of it or something but nothing worked. Where was Isa? Had this happened before? 

Taking a few deep breaths, JoJo called out, “Isa! Bo!” She needed them here and preferably quickly.

Footfalls quickly coming near her was a huge relief, they weren't that far behind her and thank fuck for that!

“What is it? Stand? Enemy? Some annoying kid with a punchable face?” Isa bombarded Joella with questions the second she stopped running.

“Uh, no... You can hold off on assaulting a child. I think she's referring to your pal over there...” Bo said slowly, trying not to rock the boat. 

Isa's head snapped to the side (Ouch did that hurt?) and she nearly tackled her unresponsive friend. “Marc, Marc David Baren snap out of whatever stupor you've gotten yourself into and say something you fucking idiot.”

...

Nothing.

There was nothing, not a single word from him. Isa cried out, pushing away from Marc. Unfortunately, either her force was too strong or the skater simply wasn't there at all, he tumbled to the ground, sprawling across the grassy expanse.

Isa turned to Joella, “What the fuck did you do to him?” She grumbled, sitting down on the ground.

“He had heard feedback from something like a microphone or something, so I listened and there was something close to it. I don't really know what went on but there was a pattern. When I went to talk to Marc he was already like that.”

“I heard feedback last night. It was after I had switched with him but I wasn't able to go right back to sleep. Someone has been watching us and they've been messing with us the entire time!” Isa exclaimed.

“Think Marquess could be doing it?” Bo asked.

“No dumbass. one, she can't see stands and two, she doesn't have a reason to! She's looking for her girlfriend or whatever, and she seemed pretty adamant on finding her.”

Bo shut up after that, shutting his eyes and focusing on the atmosphere around him. There had been this buzzing feeling in his head all day... Could that be what they were talking about?

“Just a question, why didn't you go and look for the person you supposedly heard?” Queired Bo. 

“Oh maybe it's because the woods can be a scary place in the middle of the night? Trust me, I've lived in one long enough to learn that following things into a dark forest is not a safe thing to do. Use your brain for once Bo En.”

“Well, if you say so.” He shrugged, “I am currently using my brain to make the decision that I should most definitely follow the sounds. So hopefully we can get our 'lil buddy back and we can continue on with our original plan.” 

“Are you brain dead? I just told you not to-”

“Sh, hush now, if I was brain dead I wouldn't be talking to you... Not that I would talk to you in the first place, but fate has its own plans sometimes.”

Isa simply glared his way and went back to desperately shaking her friend to bring him back to consciousness... Like that'd ever work.

———

The lavish woman fiddled with a megaphone, turning knobs on the side - that normally wouldn't be on a megaphone - and adjusting its settings. She sighed, her shoulders drooping, and she wrapped the strap around her wrist and picked up her binoculars.

She had everything with her, marked with her name of course. It'd be absolutely preposterous of she hadn't had something marked with her initials M.N., the two letters intersecting each other to create an easy to look at symbol of her belongings.

With an estranged groan, she lifted her binoculars, watching those bothersome children for what seemed like the tenth time in five minutes. Luckily, she was able to retire one of those fiends and distract the rest. All she had to do now was incapacitate them and take her prizes to her loving goddess.

Merely thinking of the woman brought tears to her eyes. “Mademoiselle will certainly be pleased, oh yes she will! She will look down at me and thank me for being so loyal!” She kept her voice to a hushed whisper, careful not to knock the settings from her beloved megaphone.

It had been set to a special wavelength that only the boy dressed in pink could hear. She was so very glad he was disposed of before he could spill anymore traitorous words to his despicable friend who seemed to be the ringleader of them all.

A slight beeping from beside her immediately alerted the lady. Soon she would have to withdraw the megaphone for her energy was running low. If her vigor would happen to fade... She would be disposed of... Yes... That was what the Right Hand had said, correct? She would be replaced with that scrappy kid.

“If I am replaced by a kid who blinds anyone in his vicinity with those awful clothes of his... My honor will be tarnished and I will have nothing else to remain here for... I must succeed.”

Under her breath she murmured, “I will succeed.”

———

Bo's gave his last goodbyes to the ladies and Marc before heading off into the woods to search for the source of Marc's current state.

Pale Machine was beside him, rolling across the terrain as a good stand did. Every few seconds he'd glance over to his stand and see a new emote on it's face, most displaying some form of glee. He chuckled lightly, little guy was too cute sometimes.

The woods would be a scary place if it weren't for the blazing sun streaming in through the leaves and properly melting him.

He hated how hot it was. It clearly interfered with his search for this Stand User, why couldn't they have just met someone nice who would point them in the direction of Myrtlough? Why'd it have to be complicated out of all things?

With a sigh, he signaled for his Stand to stop so he could listen to the environment.

Bo found that to be quite difficult considering he hadn't considered the natural noise of the forest. The wind was rustling the leaves and all the critters that resided in the expanse of wood were doing their own things and making their own sounds that made it extremely difficult for him to hear.

He was close to giving into the feeling of despair that was accumulating within his being, he'd felt that feeling many times before so it was very easy to place it among the other vast internal emotions he's experienced.

That was until he heard the faint sound of sharp feedback and a very defined, “Fuck!”

A grin suddenly appeared among his features, “Found you Miss Tery.” He said with a small laugh, the joke was too good to pass up. Of course he'd make it!

Bo En was not one to be cautious, that was displayed when he revealed that he had followed Marc and Isa to their home and inadvertently revealed he didn't know what personal boundaries are.

So that's why he was now trampling the vegetation underfoot whilst running towards the new Stand user. Pale Machine struggled to keep up with his user sheerly based on the fact that he was tiny compared Bo's stance at 6 feet.

Before reaching his desired destination, he activated Pale Machine's ability and shrouded himself in nothingness.

Though he wasn't in this person's range, he was quite sure he would be able to stray near enough without being noticed in order to maximize his Stand's power.

Diving behind a tree, Bo En was able to peer into the clearing where a woman was facing away from him, silver hair glinting in the light of the sun.

She furiously banged on the side of something, muttering into it every so often before throwing it to the side... Only until it returned to her hand, bound to her wrist by the strap it was help by.

“So you're the perpetrator that's attacked my friend... Interesting, but where's her stand? All there is is a megaphone.” He muttered to himself in thought.

The lady's head jerked in his direction, Bo could only see half her face, but he clearly saw her eyes narrow as she scanned the area. Once she figured there wasn't anyone watching her she returned to the megaphone, talking in varying volumes as she did so.

“Of course this damn thing had to run out of power, I had to stake out there all night! Naturally, no sleep equals no more energy to keep this thing going!” She was clearly exasperated, and frankly, the lady needed to take a chill pill... Maybe a few.

As if it were a car running out of gas, an orange aura sputtered around the megaphone, flickering on and off before completely disappearing. That aura would never show up around something as normal as that... So that meant... “That is her stand!” He exclaimed, only realizing how loud he was after the fact, “Shit.”

The woman's head swiveled in his direction and she homed in on the tree he stood behind, “Get out from behind that tree if you know what's good for you boy.” She scoffed, only now did Bo realize she had an accent. In some way, she sounded as if she were French, but it sounded as if it were a cheap faux French accent. Some words were emphasized more than others and all her words were strained as if she were under an immense amount of pressure.

Though none of his poking fun at the lady divided the thick tension in the air. He had already decided beforehand to be nothing less than irreverent to this stand user who had pulled his friend into their grasp and made him an empty shell with no life. The only thought in his mind was that he hoped that the effects placed onto his friend were reversible and that Marc could return to his self-effacing self.

Bo could initiate a game of cat and mouse with the woman, but a man always has to take a lady out on a date before severely fucking her up. All he had to think about was how he should go about this current predicament.

There were multiple ways he could go about this, he could reveal and introduce himself, he could spook her and make her introduce herself, or he could simply forget formalities and get to the point.

He opted for the first option, he'd broken his promise to his mother twice already the previous day, there wasn't any need to break his dear mother's heart a third time for forgetting to be a gentleman.

Reluctantly, he decided to be a pure amenity towards his lady. Bo had to be civil about this, because this women was a guitar string that was not tuned correctly, and most likely about to snap.

“If you don't reveal yourself within the next five seconds I will not hesitate to deafen you and beat your pathetic ass within an inch of your life.” The lady threatened.

Almost immediately Bo contradicted his oath of being a charming guest and mocked her speaking under his breath. Taking more than five seconds to collect himself, Bo stepped out from behind the tree (deja vu anyone?) he dismissed the mini robot and made a big show of revealing himself to the woman.

“ _Pour l'amour de Dieu_ , another one of you brats?” She seethed, “This is for you mademoiselle! All for you.” Her eye twitched.

“Excuse me? What was that first part? I don't speak French... Or whatever European language that is.” He faltered, not expecting her to say something he wouldn't know.

“ _Dieu merci_ you at least have some _cerveaux_. Indeed it is le Français.” She opined, “What's votre nom child?” 

Bo hesitated, he hadn't expected to be _right_ , but he was still uncertain in what she said. He hadn't taken French in school. Instead he chose to study abroad in Japan for a semester, which was not useful taking in account his current conversation.

“Your _name_ , give it, _maintenant_!”

This was not going to plan. Of course, once he had a plan it was devoured by the gaping mouth that was fate. Defeated, Bo submitted, “My name is Bo En. Now it's only fair for you to tell me your name.”

“Yes of course, I was planning on doing that you imbécile!”

She sure did like to yell a lot, “So... Are you going to?” He inquired, Bo was not planning on sitting there and twiddling his thumbs. He had already had to do that for their friend, Marquess, earlier.

He was met with a sharp glare, “I will get to that in a moment. You're with those gênant fools aren't you? Yes... That's correct you were there!”

His patience was wearing thin, if she kept calling him something that resembled dumb, he would clock this woman in the fucking face. “Monique Noir, in your presence.”

“Great, you finally decided to show some _common courtesy_ towards me after I humbly gave you my name.”

“Réduire au silence garçon!” Monique hissed, sweeping her hand to the side, megaphone following along.

“I still don't know French.”

“My advantage then _garçon stupide_.” She smirked, “Come tango with me, let's have a bit of fun.” The megaphone was enveloped in an orange glow before sinking into Monique's hand.

Using the same hand, she held it out, awaiting for Bo to take it. Bo took a stride forward, and took her hand - begrudgingly he might add - and said with a whisper, “Shall we?”

Delight made its way onto Monique's face, “What are you best at? I haven't much training in danse, but I am sure I can do something worthwhile.”

“Have you ever heard of the art of capoeira?” He asked, hoping this time everything could go correctly.

“I don't believe I have couillon, would you like to explain?” 

“You see here doll, it's the combination between self-defense and dance. A funny thing really, so if you don't mind me... Let me just...” He quickly flipped his wrist, leaving her hand on the bottom. From there, Bo seized the top of her arm - near her shoulder - and moved both arms in opposite directions until his hand nearly brushed her back.

Monique cried out, saying another word he didn't know, and used her free hand to strike his face. He released his hand from the top of her arm and spun her around, mimicking the dancing he always saw on the television.

“Smart one garçon enfantin, but dance is no fun without music is it not? Follow alongside me, I must bring you to the best spot for optimal enjoyment!”

“Of course, lead the way and I will follow. Our tango must be most enjoyable, but what's a show without an audience? Would you care of I brought my comrades along? I could always make sure they don't interfere.” He suggested, hoping she would buy it. Bo hadn't expected her to change their location for the fight, but a plan was already formulating in his mind and if fate was on his side, he could win this fight.

Monique entertained the thought, Bo could tell because her thinking face was an obvious one. “I suppose you may bring your collègues along, but I will make sure you do not try any funny business beneath my nose. I will accompany you.”

He shrugged, “Fair enough Ms. Noir, or are you a Mrs? I don't see a ring, so I assumed. That was rude of me to do so wasn't it?”

If one's face could match the color of Bo's shirt (which was red, very red) then Monique Noir had achieved it. He might've seen Isa angry, but Monique's face seemingly flushed red, making the facepaint markings on her face nearly blend in.

“Do not, and I mean do not! Speak of my love life, it is none of your beeswax and I will not tolerate it one bit.” She snarled, retracting her hand - that was somehow in his own hand still - from Bo's grasp.

“Touchy subject then? Alright.” He muttered aside.

“Walk.” Monique demanded, and he did so, walking all the way back through the forest, om his way back to where he left Joella and the rest of the bunch. Bo could've pulled the good ol' invisibility trick, but he didn't... Not on him at least.

“Friend!” Bo intoned, glancing over at Monique who gave him a bewildered look, “It's nothing! I'm just excited to see my friends again, oh speak of the devil Monique!” He gestured towards Isa and Bo who were in front of the two walking, Joella no where to be seen.

“Welcome back Bo, I conclude this is our - second - mystery stalker?” Isa queried.

Before Bo could get a word out, Monique spoke before him, “Where is the third one? I thought I saw four of you scélérats last night.”

Catching Bo's look towards her, Isa answered the question, “I'm sure you did, Joella is... Out right now, I'm sure she'll join us soon.”

“Fine then, follow along canetons, you will follow me to the proper destination. Once there, I will explain rules.”

“Aye-aye captain!” Bo cheered, trailing after the French woman, Isa and Marc on his heels.

Bo En was smart, he might seem like a blockhead with no sense of boundary that took commands out of submission at first, but he was simply a scheming man. Joella's impression on him was always fluctuating, but she now had a clear idea of the genius he truly was.

This woman, Monique she heard, was a force to be reckoned with. Though she was more simpleminded than originally thought, she took Isa's statement at face value and didn't inspect further.

Not even when Joella was walking right behind her. She knew invisibility was Bo's ability, and that Pale Machine was able to make him transparent to the world of Stand users, but she had no clue it'd make others invisible as well. When she'd heard him yell 'friend' she was under the assumption that it was simply nothing but Bo being himself.

Watching Bo glance between the space where she was and Monique, he put his hand out at his side in a mostly inconspicuous way. Joella was easily able to slip her hand into his, letting him know she was right there next to him.

“I have a plan.” He whispered, her Stand already activated as well.

“I figured as much, watching Isa be confused was funny, but I'm glad she went along with it.”

“Yeah, I need you to use Speaking In Tongues against Monique once we get to her destination. I don't know exactly what her Stand does, but I know it's a megaphone. Just do what you did to me when we met yesterday.” He explained quietly, almost leaning into her.

“Got it, she seems to be living in Myrtlough... Considering she's actively trying to incapacitate us. Maybe we can get her to tell us the way.”

“Was already planning on it JoJo, no need to worry.” Bo chuckled.

The silence stretched between all five people walking, in complete solitude until Isa spoke up.

“Since you seem to be a Stand user, does that mean you're the one who's caused my friend to be like _this_?” She gave a slight gesture towards her friend slung over her shoulder.

“Yes of course petit loup fille, though my precious Beatophone has worn off ages ago so your friend is quite incompetent.” Monique gibed, a lilt in her voice, “Though I don't think I've been introduced to you yet, care to share little one?”

That struck a chord with Isa alright, she nearly dropped Marc on the ground while lunging towards Monique, “I'll show you who's incompetent you bastard! Give me your damn 'Beatophone' and get over here you bitch!” She growled, Bo let go of Joella's hand quickly to stop Isa.

He nearly got knocked down while doing so, but he held he by her shoulder and arm, accidentally knocking Marc off Isa. “Beatophone huh? That must be the name of her Stand.” Joella muttered.

Monique looked amused, Bo looked nervous, Isa's eyes were full of bloodlust, Marc was now waking up due to the scuffle and unseen to everyone, Joella was shaking her head. Everyone was so childish.

“What's going on here...?” Marc asked, sitting up. His helmet was askew and his hair was a mess, blond and brown hair tangled together, “I have a fucking headache.”

“Glad you could join us _tête de casque_ , your presence was much needed.” Monique said flatly.

“Who's that?”

“That's your headache Marc.” Isa deadpanned, holding out a hand for the skater to take. 

“Makes sense.” He agreed, with that said, Monique took a step towards him, only realizing it was pointless soon after and standing down.

“Glad your back to the land of the living buddy!” Bo elbowed Marc in the side, signaling how glad he was to have his friend back.

“Thanks Bo... Now uh, where's, where's Joella?” He asked, readjusting the helmet to fit properly.

“She is currently searching for the town.” Bo answered almost robotically. Joella took her opportunity and nudged Bo's side, letting him know where she was and where she was going.

“I think that's enough distractions for now, continue on Monique!” Bo turned to the woman and motioned for her to keep walking, sending a wink in Joella's general direction.

Marc fell behind, last in line to follow Monique. Joella stood beside him and began to speak to him, “Keep quiet, Bo's using his Stand on me, just agree with what everyone else says and when I 'show up again' act normal.” She muttered.

The skater slowly nodded and continued on.

The entire trip dragged on, it was around 5 PM at this point, the day slowly slipping away from everyone.

“We are here canetons! Welcome to the Arène de la Forêt!” Monique announced, “There are a few ground rules I must set, before Bo and I can have our bout.”

Bo could feel the beginnings of a smile appear of his face.

Monique Noir was no good and Bo En had a plan

\--- 

_Joella_

_By Marc Baren_

_Though quiet and cold,_

_You’re quite colorful._

_Blue and green,_

_Red and yellow,_

_I see everything,_

_What you might feel_

_Even without words._

_My dearest friend,_

_Behind Isa of course._

_The most calculated of us all._

_If I were to slip,_

_If they were to too._

_I’m sure you would catch us,_

_I’m sure of that too._

_I trust you,_

_I really do._

_You’ve brought much to light._

_I thank you for that too._

_I fear for the day,_

_We’ll have to part ways._

_The day might be soon,_

_It might be far._

_No one knows._

_For I sure don’t._

_Pink lightning strikes down,_

_Only to be engulfed by green._

_Thank you for the days we’ve spent together._

_It’s meant too much._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next time I post, I hope 2021 isn't as shit.


	6. Beatophone Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bo and Monique Noir's showdown is certainly an interesting one, who will be the victor?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back and I posted this five days before I planned to. This chapter is just barely longer than the previous one, but it's still over 7000 words so yay for me.  
> Chapter song is Sydney by Caravan Palace, and as I always I recommend you listen while you read.  
> Monique is one of my favorite characters and I hope you like her too.  
> As always, happy reading.

Between the five people standing together, tension was bound to happen. It was like a string, wound around everyone, choking them until they couldn't breath.

_Arène de la Forêt_ was a shabby dirt pit with few trees making up the border around it. Outside the pit was weathered down benches that were falling apart. 

Monique had ushered the lot inside, spouting out directions in her strange dialect that were almost incomprehensible. Once Isa, Marc, and a still invisible Joella were seated on the benches, Monique stood in the center of the arena. She flicked her wrist and Beatophone was there. Speaking into it a few times, it began to function as a normal megaphone would, projecting her voice to where everyone inside, and those in a 10 meter radius, could hear.

The only nice part about the arena to Bo was the view it had. It was on a cliff edge, delving into the rushing rapids down below. The water crashed against the side, making the surrounding area loud and quite bothersome, the only real downside to the river.

Only when Monique began messing with a screen on her Stand did Bo notice that there were speakers embedded within the trees of the arena.

“Welcome to my arena, petits _canetons_! Now these are the rules set tonight for En and I's _capoeira_. You will not interfere with anything going on, this will be his fight alone. The audience mustn't stand up nor step into the ring. If I find out you are attempting to surpass these, there will be consequences.” Monique began, her eyes cold.

“Now for the prize. The winner will get one _prix_ only after agreed on. We will decide on these now.” She continued, “What is your offer Bo En?”

Startled, Bo went through ideas in his head. He could go with something that would satisfy him, but he knew that no one else could benefit from it if he did so.

“Well, if I do happen to win... I want you to show me and my friends to Myrtlough.” He smirked, Monique opened her mouth to speak, her blue colored lips beginning a sentence only for her to be cut off. “I also want you to tell me _everything_ about the town and why it's abandoned.”

Monique almost looked shocked, he couldn't tell if her face had paled considering the white paint over it, the paint was cracked in many places but she too was naturally pale. His only indicator of physical emotion was her becoming angry, allowing the red to show itself behind the thin facepaint. “What? You want to know _all_ of the secrets?” She let out haughty laughter, high pitched and honestly annoying, “Thank goodness you will not be winning, I accept your prize offering.” 

That was great. “What do you want as your prize?” He asked in return, it'd probably be something strange considering... Monique as a person in general.

“I want your friends to get out of Myrtlough... You however, as the loser of our _bats toi_ must abdicate from your group and do as I say. I will not spoil the surprise I have planned out for you, but I don't believe it will be very pleasant for you.” She giggled, God that was creepy.

“I'll accept, it's as fair as fair can get.” 

“Do you swear on your _la mère's_ life? You shall not back down.”

“I swear on my... What does that mean? I still can't speak French.” 

“Your mother, the woman who gave you your life.” 

“Yeah sure.”

That wasn't well received by neither Isa or Marc. “Dude, that's a- that's a little... Why?” The skater faltered, still aghast at his words.

Bo leaned in his direction, “I haven't seen her in five years, she could be dead for all I care.” He said in a hushed voice, trying to make the situation slightly better.

Monique stared at him with the most condescending look... What a bitch. “Are we done speaking? If so, I'd _like_ to _actually_ start this. If you continue to stall then I am afraid you cannot proceed any further.” Her arms were crossed and by the way she was standing, it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to hold up much longer.

“Yeah sure, don't mix up your milk and glue... Glue tastes awful by the way. And no, don't give me that look, you'd be lying if you said you haven't had any.” 

He got no response, the crowd and his opponent simply staring at him, various degrees of shock painted on their faces. “ _Please_ don't speak anymore, you're making a fool of yourself Bo En.”

“Tough crowd then? Got it.” Bo rolled his eyes, using it as an excuse to attempt to locate Joella. The only downside to his stand was the fact that even he couldn't see where invisible things went... It really sucked those first few months he had his stand. Especially when he was still going to school and important things disappeared from _his_ view only.

“Do I need to motivate you into fight me?” Monique snapped, her hands wringing the hem of her shirt, leaving the megaphone still hanging on her wrist to dangle next to her leg, “I will let you know two things about this town just to get you to fight me!”

Bo didn't object, easy bait... Monique set herself up to be some sort of foreign mastermind but clearly didn't portray it correctly. When she noticed him not making any advances towards her she began to speak, “One, I am not the only one attempting to stop you from entering the town. The more you try to dig where you shouldn't the more difficult it will be. Two, if you make it as far as near central Myrtlough... Just know there are three guardians of Madame, yes there are others, but the goddess herself has chosen those three to be her sole protectors!” Her expression had melted into one full of ardor, “The Pernicious... The Faceless... And The Right Hand... Oh they are the protectors of our Goddess! No one is better than them! Oh you will regret coming here boy!”

Okay... So those names she gave them... Did they have to do with their personalities? Stands? Were they stand users? Bo wasn't sure, but the way she had said the nicknames had really only made him think that she had a thing for all of them... That thought was unpleasant.

“Fine! Fine, let's fight, let's not see you get an aneurysm over a few people... I want to fight someone mentally competent.” Bo said with a slight frown.

Her eyes flitted in his direction, “Ready to finally fight?” As she spoke her head tilted back, hair bobbing with the movement and only made her hair more disheveled. 

He nodded slowly, but for some reason he couldn't focus on Monique. The weather had been weird since their journey began, the day had been cold and hot as well. Even though the sun was slowly moving westward but it was hot. 

Brazil was typically a place with average weather but strange things happened all the time didn't they? Bo looked over to his two visible companions and noticed that they two were effected by the heat as well. Marc had taken his helmet and kneepads off, and Isa was tugging at her jackets collar, smoothing it down and rolling her sleeves up. His gaze oscillated once again, inspecting his opponent for any noticeable oddities in her appearance.

Bo had almost leaned towards her when he noticed the fact that the bright colors painted on her face were slowly melting off, revealing her porcelain complexion. It was... Strange to say the least, Monique already had exaggerated features while the makeup had been on, but he was scared to say that he _didn't_ want to see her face without it.

Monique had begun to fiddle with her Stand again and Bo still hadn't realized, too caught up in the inspection of her face. The enemy's activities hadn't gone unnoticed though, Isa had begun to wave in his direction, snapping her fingers to catch his attention. He looked towards her and caught the gesture almost instantly.

“Beatoph-” Monique began to call her stand to action when she was cut off. 

“Speaking in Tongues!” Joella stood atop the benches, staring down at the deranged mime look alike. 

Monique stood there in shock, her mouth agape but no words coming out, eyes empty and thoughtless. The group had plenty of time before JoJo's stand would wear off and they were glad for that. All the quartet would need to do was incapacitate her and interrogate her for the information needed.

“Great job Joella...” Bo said wearily, the amount of time he had kept Pale Machine active was tiring him out, nothing drained his energy more than using his stand on others.

Joella simply nodded in his direction, for all the talk Monique had... She had simply had no bite to back her up. A shame it was.

But something still felt wrong. It went by all to quick.

How could something with such a great build up be a let down in the end? There was no falling action, simply climax before conclusion. Something in Joella's gut pulled her attention away from her celebrating friends back to Monique.

Her stomach flipped in anticipation, her head slowly swiveling to the supposedly powerless Stand user. 

And then her heart dropped. 

An eerie smirk was planted on Monique's face, she looked straight at the ground, grey eyes fixated on her Stand that had fallen out of her grip during the scuffle. Her head bobbed up and down, a slow pattern that had begun to play on Beatophone before expanding to the other speakers that surrounded the arena.

“Should’ve known it would come to this you cheater...” Monique’s voice emitted from the speakers, but she still stood there, staring at the ground, mouth not moving one bit. “I hadn’t expected to come across a bunch of cheaters... yet here we are,” Her tone was soft yet disapproving, “But this was En and I’s fight! You all disobeyed the rules I set in place!” It had quickly morphed into a growl, words ripped from within her throat.

Joella had no clue what she was doing and she was doing it, her Stand’s ability made it to where no one can say, hear, or even process anything said or thought, how was Monique projecting her voice like this? “Cheater, cheater, cheater, cheater... what a disgrace you all are. Now you must pay the price!” That couldn’t be good, considering how insane Monique acted, there was no possible way to gauge what she would do.

There wasn’t enough time to think clearly about what things Monique was capable of, for all she knew, the enemy could shoot fire out of the megaphone. The only clear example of her Stand ability was frequencies and that was it... Frequencies... Beatophone was able to disable Marc by finding a wavelength that affected him. Who’s to say that she couldn’t do the same for the rest of them?

Joella was conflicted on whether or not she should deactivate Speaking In Tongues, it could go right, wrong, or something else that didn’t go right for either of the parties. Ultimately, she decided that it would be best to force an explanation out of Monique rather than go into her punishment blind. 

Her Stand hovered by her hesitantly, apparently it didn’t think taking off the effects was a good idea. Ignoring the slight protest she could feel her stand expressed she dismissed it into the depths of her mind. 

Monique craned her head into JoJo’s direction and the ever growing grin nearly split her face open with how wide it was. “Cheater.” She murmured, dragging out the syllables with a dreamy undertone.

She hadn’t realized how quiet her companions had been until Bo spoke up. 

“Still plotting away eh? Please indulge us in your master plan.” He huffed, arms crossed.

Monique did nothing, she stood there in silence before her head tilted back and she erupted with laughter. Loud, obnoxious laughter that cut through the quiet like a hot knife through butter.

Her laughter ceased as soon as it started, her eyes steely as she stared at the edge of the cliff from a far. “I warned you about cheaters Bo En.” She purred, glancing over to him with that same look she had when talking about 'The guardians of the Goddess', “You'll wish you brought noise cancelling headphones soon. Your punishment awaits...”

With that said Monique slumped over, her hand still holding Beatophone tightly. Her whole form swayed slightly before falling to the ground... Gracefully somehow. 

“... Does that mean we win?” Isa asked, stepped towards the collapsed form of Monique Noir and prodding at the side of her face with a dirt covered shoe.

“Maybe? Nothing has happened with her 'punishment' or whatever... It might've just been her showing off or something like that.” Bo shrugged, “That whole thing was exhausting though... Glad it's over.”

Again, that feeling of false victory filled Joella, something _was_ wrong... But what?

At that moment the speakers began to crackle, slowly coming to life as something began to play. The volume slowly rose, pitching the noise up even higher than it had been moments before.

Joella faintly heard Marc yell behind her, she turned around and saw him covering his ears with a pained expression on his face. The noise was only getting louder and harder to bear.

It took a few moments for her to process that her ears were ringing, only adding to the chaos that was happening. “Joella!” She heard Bo call for her, “I think... I think this is what Monique meant!” His hands were also clamped over his ears, attempting to block out the awful sound.

“We need to get her to stop it!” Her words were muffled but Joella knew she too was trying to make her voice heard.

“Let's just kill her,” Isa shouted whilst crouching over Marc, “That'll stop her quickly.”

“Not honorable and we need the directions.” JoJo disagreed, sliding closer to Bo.

“What's stopping us from leaving here then?” Isa challenged once again.

“Again, directions are a must!” He replied quickly.

“Then wake her the fuck up Bo! We need this to stop, my eardrums are going to burst!” Isa snarled, lunging towards Monique with outstretched arms, “I can't take this and I don't need you piddling around!” Isa landed near Monique, now sitting next to her head, holding a twitching hand out above her head before returning to cover her own ears. 

The frequency was getting too high for Joella to handle, soon she wouldn't be able to hear a thing and that wasn't good. Her vision grew fuzzy, black creeping into her line of sight and all that remained was black.

\---

The world felt like it had switched to slow motion to Bo as he watched Joella fall to the ground, this noise was persistent and it needed to stop. He had already planned to take Beatophone and try to shut it off himself, but he soon realized he had no idea how it worked and was it even possible to use another person’s Stand? He really should have listened to Isa when she said to wake Monique up... better late than never..?

Bo swiftly moved in Monique’s direction, and mumbled a mantra of sorries to both his mother and Monique. Isa stared at him, confusion and speculation showing through her eyes, though before she could say anything Bo reared back and kicked Monique in the side. Unfortunately she didn’t wake, but she did show signs of waking... Which was mostly reacting to the pain

He could barely hear the world around him, but he managed to hear Isa yell a quick, “Hell yeah Bo! Show that bitch what she deserves!” A grin tugged at his face, when Bo took a step back, Isa moved forward and pressed a shoe down onto Monique's hand.

Slowly, Monique's arm recoiled, tucking it against her chest. A moment passed and the enemy was sitting upright with a sneer on her face, blood trailing down her chin. She wiped it with an even bloodier hand and laughed, “Oh the way your face twists with pain as you listen to the beautiful noise of my Beatophone! A shame your unworthiness males it to where it is nothing but a burden to you.” 

Monique leaned forward, bracing her good hand against the ground and getting on one knee. As she attempted to lift herself back into a standing position, she took a knee to the jaw, Isa standing menacingly above her, blood splattering on her patterned pants.

The impact of the strike threw Monique back, more blood spilling from her mouth, the crimson mixing with the face paint. Another laugh and then the awful noise was gone, leaving a painful ringing in Bo's ears. “Fine you _imbéciles_ , you are free for now, but I am not finished with you. We will go until one of us is _battu_ and can no longer fight.” She breathed, holding her injured hand up to take a closer look at it.

The more she spoke the more blood leaked out of her mouth, trailing down her face and onto her monochrome shirt. “A shame you injured me, I cannot access my dear Beatophone now... I _do_ have my other hand though, but it isn't the hand I usually use and that... Is a terrible thing. My left hand is my designated spot for my Stand.” Monique sighed, her limp hand eye level to her woeful gaze.

Her arm dropped, eyes traveling to Bo and Isa, “Can I initial your heart Bo En? I feel as if I've known you for years... And I always initial my belongings...” She expressed while smearing the blood across her face, “Oh how rude... I must keep my mouth in check with my brain, that wasn't supposed to come out.”

Monique stood up straight, she was taller than Isa by quite a few centimeters, but only reached the center of Bo's face. The two only stared at her while she regained her composure, “What. The fuck.” Isa faltered, taking a step back from the enemy.

“Let's continue our fight, we barely got anywhere before you cheated, I hardly think that's fair _garçon disparaissant_.” Monique smirked.

Bo simply nodded, he elbowed Isa, pointing towards Joella and Marc before facing his opponent once again. “Give me your best.” He shrugged, “I guarantee no more cheating.”

Nodding her approval, Monique began the fight with an uppercut that Bo narrowly missed. He responded with a right hook and barely hit her nose, she wavered, wiping a fresh stream of blood off onto her hand.

He looked away for a second, preparing a new attack. Though once Bo looked back he saw Monique flick her wrist and with an impressive rotation of her arm Beatophone was back in her possession. “Beatophone!” Monique sang into her Stand, a burst of sound flying towards him.

“Shit!” He heard himself yell, Beatophone could also do that? What else could the damn Stand do? He moved to the side, dodging another attack, “If we're playing that way, I hope you don't mind if Pale Machine and I make our departure.” Bo said, bringing out the little robot that was his Stand.

Activating Pale Machine, Bo watched Monique's face morph into an expression of rage. “ _Putain d'idiot, je vais encore te trouver_!” Her voice was shrill as she screamed at no one. 

Stifling a chuckle, he slowly approached her, careful not to make any uncoordinated movements. Monique whirled around as she attempted to locate where her invisible challenger was located.

The upside to being in a dirt pit was the fact that there was no grass or sticks to step on, only dirt that barely made any sound on impact. As he eased towards his enemy, Monique began to mutter something to herself, glancing at the empty air that surrounded her. 

As Bo grew closer he could hear snippets of what she was saying. “Stands have — yes? Great, just need to find it before — and then I will see the — claim my victory for An-” Right before she uttered the last word she cut herself off, staring daggers at the spot Bo happened to be in.

She grinned, holding Beatophone in his direction before speaking, “My Stand grants me hearing capabilities that no other possesses Bo En. You’ve deceived me for the last time!” Monique turned a knob on Beatophone’s panel and a high pitched sound made its way to Bo’s ears.

He grimaced, but stayed as quiet as he could, good hearing huh? Was she still immune to some of her Stand’s abilities? 

As Bo continued to think, Monique began to back away from him, further and further from within his range.

“Always keep on guard Bo En.” Bo flinched back at the sudden intensity of Monique's voice, it crackled out of the Stand like any other _normal_ megaphone would. 

When he looked up he noticed she was standing further back, around four meters, then she was several seconds before. 

“Fuck.” He muttered, taking a stride towards her, Pale Machine following in pursuit.

Monique took notice of the Stand and eyed it with a sneer, “Is that your Stand En? I could crush that tiny thing beneath my foot of I wanted to.” Her voice was so... Condescending and it was absolutely awful to hear.

“...You do realize yours is quite literally an inanimate object... correct?” He responded, an eyebrow raised.

Quickly, Monique looked between the two Stands, “I do believe that mine can't get underfoot for Beatophone remains on _moi_ at all times.” She said, rolling her eyes as well. 

“Yet I could buy something that looks exactly like it at the store for like, 105 Brazilian reals. Talk about cheap y'know? How much is that in Euros... 17 maybe?” Bo quipped.

At that remark, Monique took more than a few drastic steps towards Bo, “You find yourself funny boy? _La faites vous_? Who raised you, it is not polite to speak to others in this manner!”

“Haven't you been speaking to me like that the entire time too? Fair's fair _Miss Noir_.” And with that, Monique swung her arm, the one holding Beatophone, and struck Bo across his face... On the already bruised part of his jaw that he had earned the previous day after his fight with Joella and Isa.

Bo recoiled, tasting the saltiness of his own blood pooling inside his mouth, he spat it out close enough to Monique to get her to back up. “No class. No fucking class Bo En. Oh it will be a delight to tell ma déesse that I succeeded in my task of eliminating you.” She muttered, giving the side eye to him.

“No no, don't count your chickens before they hatch... Or do so if you please, makes it easier on me.” 

Isa, still up in the stands with Marc and JoJo, felt like commenting on their situation after staying completely silent for most of it, “Bo for the love of God shut up! Just take down the damn lunatic!”

He shot Isa a look, “Not now, I'm trying to distract our mutual enemy that's been attempting to maim us for the past hour or two, I'm sure nothing else can go wrong.” 

And that was the last thing that happened before it went wrong

Bo saw the strike before he felt it, while conversing with his pal Monique gladly took her opportunity and attacked him again, good on her... Not him.

This time, she combined hitting him in the head with Beatophone and turning up the frequency to give him the good ol' head destroyer combo.

Now his ears were ringing and his head was hurting like hell.

Bo shut his eyes, bracing for the pain to subside, but even he knew that it wasn't going away any time soon.

Another crack sounded and the pain doubled, blood now trickling down the side of Bo's face, making its way into his eyes and temporarily blinding him as well. 

His thoughts were scrambled, any new plans to take down Monique would most likely fail and he had no idea what to do. Had she ever revealed a weakness? Trying to rethink every word she said proved to be difficult due to the obvious circumstances and for once, Bo felt hopeless.

Except, he had no opportunities to forfeit. Once he didn't feel like shit, he opened his mouth to say something when Monique mumbled a strand of French sentences that he still didn't understand, “ _Oh non, ce est de retour - ce est de retour, pourquoi est-il de retour - je ne peux pas penser. Je ne veux pas l'entendre - je ne peux pas écouter tout cela, soyez silencieux! Tais-toi! Tais toi, tais toi_!”

She covered her ears as best she could, eyes darting around frantically, “Damn river – I can't think – be quiet – where is that noise – I need quiet – Stop it, stop it! I need silence-” He sentences were in fragments, heavy gasps in between every few words.

Her eyes stopped on Bo, “You.” She said, pointing her finger at him in a very accusatory way, “Your fault – that's why I'm – My Beatophone has been harmed!” She cried, her head jerking back, hands now covering her face.

Bo tried to piece together what was happening, Monique had gone from almost giving him a concussion to freaking out over something. Soon, he zeroed in on Beatophone. The Stand was still summoned and still a megaphone, but he noticed the fact that it did look quite a bit battered. 

Beatophone had been chipped, and parts of the cone shaped bit were cracked. Some parts were even missing. Bo hadn't realized that inanimate objects that were Stands could also project its damage onto its user. 

Now at this point, Bo would definitely claim victory, his enemy was distracted and it didn't seem as if it'd change anytime soon. But the good in him outweighed the bad, he didn't like seeing how much agony Monique was in.

Suddenly, he's beside her, making an attempt to help her in whatever is going on. Though as soon as he puts a hand on her shoulder she moves away, mumbling more nonsense about her current conflict.

" _Déesse, sauve-moi maintenant! Non, elle ne viendra pas - Où est le bruit - Va-t'en - Tais-toi, ferme-la - Non je ne peux pas faire ça - Calme-toi!_ ” More strained French, and almost instantaneously Monique went from desperately covering her face to staring at her hands with a look of betrayal.

He shared a look with Isa, who simply mouthed something along the lines of 'What the fuck?' Bo shrugged, glancing back to Monique, her hands were shaking as Beatophone disappeared into her left hand. 

The silence lingered in the air for a short period of time before Monique adopted a calmer façade. Her face didn't look as pained nor terrified, but it all seemed superficial in a way.

The tremors in her hands still remained, though they were less noticeable than before since her arms were now at her sides. “Shall...” She trailed off, shaking her head slightly, “Shall we continue where we left off Bo En? I am quite sorry for the brief interruption, I have no clue what came over me cher.” 

He didn't want to take advantage of someone who was still emotionally vulnerable, it seemed plain wrong, even if she was the enemy. Bo's next thought made him internally cringe, but it wasn't a bad idea.

If he could incapacitate Monique as quickly and leave minimal damage, he could attempt to get answers from her and maybe, just maybe, help her find the right path.

Attempting to make it sound as believable as possible, Bo agreed, “Of course.” Monique nodded, but didn't resummon her Stand, he had a quick thought of why so, but he could entertain it later.

Monique's style of fighting was certainly different than any he had seen before, but then again, he had offered his slight skills of the capoeira method of things. Bo did wish he knew the name to hers, it was effective, she made use of her legs and hands, simple enough, but as she did a certain move she mumbled under her breath the name - or what he thought the name to the move was - while doing it.

Right as she pivoted on her right foot, she muttered a quick “Fouetté” and lifted her left leg to kick him in the side of his head, completing the move facing 90 degrees away from where she had originally been facing.

Bo quietly whispered a thanks as he rebounded from the hit, holding a hand to where he had been struck, Monique was wearing heels and if the heel part had been the part to impact... Well, it's safe to say he probably wouldn't have gotten back up so easily.

Monique shut her eyes, and moments later Bo realized he spoke too soon. Her next attack was to a similar degree to the first one, again, she said the name - chasse bas - and drove her heel into the upper part of his leg. He yelled out, stumbling to the ground as he did so, and successfully scraped the heels of both his hands while attempting to catch himself.

Monique held a look of triumph momentarily, but when a sudden crash of water against the side of the cliff sounded, her arms impulsively jerked up to cover her ears. When she caught Bo looking at her with an inquisitive stare she simply bared her teeth, a rather weak attempt at scaring him off.

He focused his attention to the bench, Joella and Marc were still out cold and Isa sat with her knees to her chest, staring off to the other end of the river with disinterest.

It took a few seconds to realize it's been almost completely silent since they started their fight for the... Fifth time maybe? Bo decided to speak up, “Why do you keep fighting?” It was a dumb question, and he was sure he knew what the answer would be.

The reply was instant, “Because, I mustn't disappoint my lady, my goddess, she has done so much good for me. I cannot fail the task she has bestowed onto me, I owe her my... My... My... My...” Her voice faltered as she continued to repeat the word, “I... Owe her my life..?” 

Monique looked away, “Yes I do... I should! She saved me from... She... Saved... Me...?” She sounded lost, “ _Je ne peux pas... Je ne me souviens pas_.”

'Crisis incoming' was the first thing that came to mind when Bo saw how... Hopeless and confused she looked. As much as he hated what he was about to do, Bo needed to win this fight, the information Monique was holding was some of the most important stuff he'd ever need.

He was close to turning away from Monique, getting Isa and making her beat the enemy, but then he remembered he already kicked the woman while she was down some time before. It was no use running, he had to do this.

Bo brought Pale Machine back out and used him for a distraction, the tiny Stand obliged and began to spin in circles in front of Monique. She took notice of the whirring coming from the inner workings and began to grab for it, leaning forward ever so slightly... Just enough to where he could simply take her down.

Quietly, he took careful steps forward, right as he reached his arms out to grab her shoulders, Monique dove for Pale Machine and landed face first onto the Stand. When she didn't move, he went ahead and planted a foot firmly onto her back, assuring she wouldn't get up. Bo pushed his Stand back into the depths of his mind and Monique's head now rested evenly on the ground.

“Get off.” He heard the mumbled words of his enemy, “I think your stand broke my nose. I do not appreciate this.”

“Information first, I am the victor after all.” Bo said with a shrug... One Monique couldn't see considering she was still face first on the ground.

“Le voulez-vous en français, anglais, portugais ou tout ce que vous voulez entendre en?” She asked, a grin evident in her voice, “I will give the information you require if I have the opportunity to actually breathe.”

“As long as you plan on actually staying here and giving me what I need.”

“I promised you, did I not, Bo En?”

He nodded and raised his foot, Monique lifted her head and he could see the blood pooling out from under her face. She pulled herself to her knees, brushed off the front of her shirt, and turned to face Bo.

Semi-dry blood trailed down her faintly crooked nose, it was a less than pleasing sight, but he knew Monique would keep her word and cough up the information he needed.

He gestured towards Isa, he was sure she'd want to ask questions to their enemy as well. A good case of good cop, bad cop.

“Where's Myrtlough at?” Was his first question, simple, and the most important to their cause.

“Follow the river East, soon it will turn but continue forward, the gates will appear.” Monique replied, “There will be no guard, but expect The Boy to be there soon. My mission has failed and he is to replace me.”

“What does that mean? Replace?” Isa asked, narrowing her eyes at the choice of wording.

“As I said, I have failed my... The Goddess of Myrtlough, I am afraid I cannot remain The Voice much longer.” She replied with a shrug, “It is not as if the people ever listened to I, especially that... The Traitor that is... Was? Nickal.”

Bo glanced towards Isa, sharing the same confused look she too held, “The Traitor? The Voice? The Boy? _The Goddess_? What the hell are these names Noir?” He questioned, taking a step back.

“Every resident of our town has been given a name. Everyone our goddess has saved is apart of her web. I cannot share much, for the safety of my comrades is still top priority, but just know there are more than just those.”

“The elaborate god damnit!” Isa yelled, “How many should we expect? And who the fuck is your fucking goddess, is she the cause of the fucking ghost town?”

“I am The Voice, the others I have mentioned in previous conversations also live there. But The Forbidden lives deep where no one has found, she remains there in silence without making a sound. The Crazed is a case in which his mind has been fused, he has hidden danger that keeps you confused. Though they haven't appeared The Unknown lies low, outside of the town their home in tow. I'm afraid I cannot share much more for the protection of those few is important to me.” Monique said with a sigh, “Rhyming certainly is fun I must say, riddles like those can save the day.”

Isa groaned and Bo internally cringed, all these code names were just like the ones she had spoke about, the goddess's guardians or whatever. Counting all the names she had given him left him with... Nine... Nine people they had to plow through to solve this mystery. “Here, Monique, who is this... Goddess you speak so highly about?”

“Though I have begun to - I regret to say this - question my loyalties, she had saved me from the terrible place I had been in. She... convinced me to help her out in exchange that she taught me how to control my Stand. Something in the moment felt utterly wrong, but I cannot tell whether or not it was the pounding in my head that made me join her cause or that... Terrifying thing that lurks behind her sometimes.” Monique suppressed a shudder, but continued forward, “I do not know what exactly caused the townsfolk to run away, but what I have heard from The Faceless was that she was the central cause. Something in the '50s I believe.”

“The... '50s..? That was almost 60 years ago, unless you're saying this lady you bow down to is in her eighties I have to call you out on it.” Bo said slowly, “Is she immortal or something? Keeping that youthful glow?”

“The lady is deceased unfortunately, she simply wants her revenge for what she's been wronged for.” Monique replied flatly, taking a moment to wipe off the blood caked on her face, “Simple as that little boy.”

“Dead?” Bo and Isa sputtered in sync with each other, Isa took the lead, “So this is an _actual_ ghost town? You gotta be shitting me.”

“Yes, it is an actual ghost town, one that only those who are meant to come to arrive. Meaning you folk have a reason to be drawn here as I was two years ago.” Monique drawled, flicking some dried blood onto the ground in front of her. Her stockings were riddled with tears, dividing the letters that were weaved into them, Bo couldn't help but wonder what they stood for.

“Two years? She's been recruiting people for that long? Why though...” Bo said, uncertainty in his voice.

Monique looked at him with the most condescending look he'd ever seen, “Laughable, honestly laughable Bo En. The first person to join the Goddess's cause was The Right Hand, five years ago, thirty years after the last person cleared out of Myrtlough. The Right Hand is most trusted, and makes sure that no one invited in can enter. If someone who is not permitted ends up inside, they will not make it out. Myrtlough is her town, it belongs to The Goddess.”

“Five years, is it safe to assume that these others you speak of are Stand users? Because by what you're saying, it seems as if she only lets those in that she, quote on quote ' _saved_ ', ergo, everyone who _doesn't_ have a Stand dies.” Isa really had great comprehension skills considering she'd only heard all this information once and still made sense of it.

“I can neither confirm nor deny. The protection of my comrades is of utmost importance to me. I will no longer answer questions, you have enough information as is.” Monique replied coldly.

“One more..? Can you tell us the name and or Stand of this Goddess of yours? You said you were questioning your loyalties... Right? If you didn't trust her you wouldn't keep the information anymore.” Bo reasoned, hoping he could at least pry a little more information out of Monique.

She sighed, rolling her eyes slightly as her head dropped forward, silver hair now obscuring her eyes. “ _Miss Silva este la reine de sa ville elle a a Stand qui vous tourmente l'esprit et ne vous laissera pas le contrôle, ne vous fiez pas à une chose qu'elle dit si som Stand vous affecte, vous regretterez certainement ce qui se passe_.”

“Repeat that in not French,” Isa muttered, sticking a hand out to grab a fistful of Monique's hair and forcing her head up, her eyes remained shut, a smirk on her face.

“No can do, _fille loup_ ,” She murmured, “your time for questioning has ended, the finale is near. It is time for me to go.” Monique dragged herself to her feet.

“Uh, no? Who said you can go I still have-” Isa was cut off.

“Hush dear, you've said enough, one of your friends is awake now, I can hear the sounds of slumber fading away.” Bo's gaze flitted from Monique to the benches, Joella was stirring, that was... Great! 

“Hey, JoJo!” He called for her, Joella paused, removing her hand from in front of her eyes to look over at the source of the voice.

She waved tiredly and went back to focusing on herself. Monique shrugged, and continued to walk towards the edge of the arena, near the cliff. 

“This damn river is the loudest thing I have come across in a while. I can usually block out things such as this.” She said lethargically, “But I suppose you can't play the same trick over and over, the crowd is bound to get bored sooner or later.”

Bo took a step towards Monique, confused about what she was getting at, “What does that mean...?” He hesitated, staring between her and Isa.

“It means I can no longer continue to do things as I have been. It makes no sense to keep the cycle going.” Monique had reached the edge of the cliff side, the sound of water growing increasingly louder. With a flick of a wrist Beatophone had returned, Bo braced, preparing for another attack but Monique had began to speak again, “And now, for the final bow...” She lamented, “Tell that bastard Stu I forgive him... Please? Take it as my final wish.” She raised her arms until they were parallel to each other.

“Your – Monique wait!” He yelled out, running forward to stop her. 

Monique sadly smiled at him, “You four were a great final audience... _Au revoir_...” She gave a small salute and leaned back, falling backwards in a manner that mirrored the scenes in action movies.

Bo reached the edge and watched as Monique's body fell off the cliff, cutting through the air until there was a deafening crash where she met the surface of the water.

The jagged rocks that jutted out from the bottom of the river had unfortunately cushioned part of Monique's fall. He couldn't see what exactly happened to her, but by the now reddish hue of the water, Bo could infer.

Faintly, he could see her silhouette beneath the water, traveling along the river's path until he could no longer see the corpse of his former enemy. All that remained was the trail of blood that now faded into the blue depths.

Isa came up behind him, “That was... More depressing that it should have been. I should've taken a foreign language when I was a freshman, one year of French would've been more useful than none.”

“I hope she didn't say anything useful, all I got from that was Silva,” He shrugged before asking, “how are we gonna explain this to JoJo and Marc?” 

A new voice joined their conversation, “There's no reason to explain anything to me. I watched it happen.” Joella muttered, crossing her arms, “I take it you got the info we need though?”

He nodded in affirmation, before Isa replied to his comment, “We don't tell Marc she died. Death is a touchy subject for him, someone messed up a lot of things for him...” She whispered, “it's why he acts the way he does, someone really fucked up his life before we met.”

“Okay... Got it... Last thing though.” He began, Isa quirked an eyebrow in response, “Who's this Nickal guy and why do we need to give him Monique's forgiveness.”

“No idea, but it we do come across a Nickal I guess we should. She was a formidable opponent and we should respect her last wishes I guess,” Isa said with a shrug, “even if I didn't get to kill her myself.”

Ignoring Isa's last comment, he continued on, “At least we got the directions, let's wake up Marc and head out.” Joella and Isa sounded their agreements and all three moved to the bench. Isa leaned over him and lightly shook him back into consciousness.

Marc jolted up and nearly fell off the bench, “Holy shit – Isa what, what happened, where's Monique and why's Bo all bloody?” He puzzled in a quick manner.

“Here's a summary buddy, Bo and Monique finished fighting, she took a dive off the cliff into the water and now she's probably off _swimming_ somewhere.” Isa responded, obviously bending the truth about Monique's true whereabouts.

Marc sighed, “Okay... Do we- do we uh, know where Myrtlough is now?”

Isa agreed, “Yeah, and it's time to head out. We should be able to reach there before night truly hits.” 

———

The group followed the river East – just as Monique had said – and continued to follow it after it turned North.

The walk was fairly quiet, but when the tall gates of the town arose in the distance they knew they were truly there.

And like that, they had arrived.

They were finally at the (not so golden) gates of Myrtlough.

  
  
———

####  _Monique_

_By Marc Baren_

_Strange you are and fight you must,_

_You’re grand and endlessly glorious._

_I don’t know who, or how, or what_

_Led you to be here with us._

_You fought valiantly until the end,_

_When the rapids took you away._

_I won’t forget to tell your woes to the one who broke your heart._

_The sun was gone and the night was near_

_As the battle began to close,_

_Your Beatophone did hurt my ears,_

_But it was a strong Stand from the start._

_Your Queen, your Goddess, the one who rules_

_Has corrupted your thoughts and soul._

_She lied to you to get what she wants,_

_And she mustn’t have more control._

_I never ‘met’ met you but you have a heart_

_One that deserves to be honored for life,_

_For as long as I live I’ll remember you,_

_One day we’ll have a fresh start..._

_Goodbye Monique, Farewell Monique!_

_You can now move on,_

_I hope the river will treat you well_

_And you can have a fresh start._

_I might never see you again you know,_

_But I suppose that’s okay,_

_Because one day..._

_One day anew, we will have a fresh start._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for next months chapter... name? Let's just say is has to do with porcelain mammals.


End file.
